Chuck and Sarah vs After The Different Beginning
by Costas TT
Summary: Series of humorous one-shots as a sequel of sorts to "Chuck & Sarah vs a Different Beginning". Obviously AU, but based on actual episodes of the show.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Some of you asked for sequels to my short story "Chuck & Sarah vs a Different Beginning". While not strictly sequels, I hope you'll find this series of one-shots inspired by episodes of the show entertaining. They sure are fun to write.

The usual disclaimers apply to this and all subsequent installments.

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs the Chocolate Soufflé**

Chuck was returning from his shift at the Buy More. It had been a long day, since yet another new computer virus had kept the Nerd Herd quite busy. He parked the Herder and loosened his tie before entering the courtyard while trying to get his keys out of his pocket. It was then when he saw Casey still in his Buy More uniform sprawled in an easy chair, a bottle of beer in hand and several more chilling in a cooler by his side.

"Hey Casey," he said.

*grunt* (about time you got here, Moron)

"What's up?"

Casey opened his mouth to speak, but then a frustrated cry, almost a scream, came from inside his apartment.

"Your girlfriend," he growled, jerking his thumb towards the source of the sound.

"Sarah? What about her?"

"Want a beer?"

"Sure, thanks. Well?"

"Apparently Walker believes that culinary skills are necessary for this assignment. And since her hotel room doesn't have a kitchen, she somehow talked me into letting her work in mine."

"Are you telling me that Sarah's cooking?"

"I wouldn't describe it as cooking, but yes, you can say that, I guess."

"Oh boy, this is precious! I'm getting my camcorder!" Chuck went through the Morgan door into his room and emerged a minute later holding a digital camcorder. He made a beeline for Casey's door.

"Bartowski?"

"Yes?"

"Enter at your own risk."

"Don't tell me you have your own place booby trapped."

"No, but beware of Walker."

"Huh?"

"Things are not going too well in there, idiot. And you are bound to make it worse with that camera. Pissing off your girlfriend, who just happens to be a CIA trained assassin, doesn't sound like a good idea right now."

"I'll take it under consideration, thanks for the warning Casey."

"It's your funeral."

Chuck entered Casey's apartment, not quite knowing what to expect. Following the sound of a crash he made his way to the kitchen. Sure enough, Sarah was in there, but the place looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Everything, including the apron wearing, spoon wielding blonde bombshell, was covered with flour; eggs, sugar and other stuff were spilt on the counter and the sink and smeared on her.

"Sarah?" Chuck asked hesitantly, the camera in his hand forgotten as she cursed about something.

"Chuck? What are you doing here?"

"Casey told me you were here and I wanted to see if there is anything I can do to help."

"Oh, that's so sweet," she said. But then she saw the camera and her eyes narrowed. "You came to help, huh? Looks to me like you wanted a video of my monumental failure for your personal enjoyment."

"For _our_ enjoyment," he corrected, placing his arms around her waist and pulling her in for a tender kiss. He obviously didn't mind being smeared with whatever was on her. "And you didn't answer my question."

"What question?"

"About what you are doing in here."

"As you well know, Ellie has invited me to dinner tonight. So I told her I would take care of dessert."

"And what kind of dessert did you have in mind?"

"I wanted to make a chocolate soufflé," she said, pointing at an open cookbook. "I bought the ingredients and I'm trying to do it like it says in the recipe. But I'm an absolute disaster in the kitchen. I can't get anything right."

"How did the idea for this whole Martha Stewart thing get into your head?"

"I don't want Ellie to think I'm totally useless in the kitchen," she said, lowering her head. "But apparently I am. Hell, even Casey is better than me in this! When Ellie invited him as well, he made some mini quiches and he did a great job too!"

"Rewind please. Casey can cook?"

"It appears to be part of his skill set," she admitted.

"You could have just gone out and bought something for dessert."

"I know! But I thought it would be better if I made it myself!"

"Somehow I don't think Ellie would hold it against you."

"Are you sure?"

"She's been to the Wienerlicious, so she knows you are a terrible cook."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Chuck," she said bitterly and threw some of the curdled, doughy crème pâtissière at him.

"Hey! Do you want to start a food war in here?" Chuck asked. She just stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's about the only thing this crap is good for now," she said, looking forlornly at the mess she had made.

"Sarah, calm down. I see you have enough ingredients intact, so let's give it another try. I'm right here with you. First, let's clean the place up a bit. Then I'll take the book and talk you through the process. How does that sound?"

"You'd do that for me?"

"Sarah, you know how much I love you."

"Let's do this."

It took them both a few minutes to get Casey's kitchen clean. Then Sarah started working on the soufflé again, this time with Chuck reading the stages of preparation to her from the cookbook. Soon, she had six small ramekins filled with the mixture and ready for baking.

"See? It wasn't that hard, was it?" Chuck asked.

"It wasn't," she said and kissed him. "Thank you Chuck."

"I think it's almost time to go to my place. We can bake them in our oven, so that they'll be puffed up and fluffy when the time comes to eat them."

"I agree. Just give me a few minutes to change. I'm a mess right now. You should change too, by the way."

"Okie-dokie." Chuck went to his room to change, while Sarah placed the ramekins on a tray and covered them with a clean napkin and then she too changed into clean clothes.

Casey entered to pick up his quiches and was impressed by the now clean kitchen.

"Well Walker," he said, "it appears that the geek was able to help after all."

"That he definitely did," she replied. "Come on, let's go."

Together the two spies made their way across the courtyard and knocked on the door. Ellie greeted them warmly.

"Hi John, hi Sarah," she said.

"Hello Ellie," Casey said. "Here, I made some quiches."

"Aw, you didn't have to."

"I wanted to."

"Thank you. Sarah, what have you got there?"

"I made some chocolate soufflés. Chuck suggested leaving the baking until the last moment."

"OK, let's leave them in the kitchen. Devon is making his pre-dinner cocktails."

"I'm not so sure about that, Ellie. The last time I drank…"

"Nonsense, we won't let you overdo it this time."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

Dinner went smoothly. Ellie's roast was excellent as always and Casey's quiches were delicious. Truth be told, Devon and Ellie were a little apprehensive about Sarah's soufflés, considering her performance at the Wienerlicious, but they weren't about to hurt her feelings, so they attacked them with gusto once they had cooled after being taken out of the oven. Quite surprisingly, to them at least, they were really good. Even Casey complimented Sarah for the dessert. Morgan, who was also present, did not have any compunction about digging in and he pronounced it one of the best desserts he had eaten in his life. Sarah fairly beamed with pride and made sure to give Chuck some credit for his help.

Later, Chuck and Sarah were cuddled together in bed. She was so happy about finally getting something right in the kitchen and his support in accomplishing it that, when she and her boyfriend retired for the night, she wasted no time thanking him in her own special way, the one she reserved for him and only him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** This one was as much fun to write as the previous one.

I hope you'll find it just as entertaining.

Thank you all for the encouragement to continue.

* * *

"_Don't worry, you're gonna be fine, nothing's gonna happen to you. Assuming you know how to tango."_

_John Casey_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Tango**

"See you tomorrow Chuck," Sarah said and kissed her boyfriend tenderly. She had already said goodnight to Ellie and Awesome. Morgan had left just a few minutes ago.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with me tonight?" Chuck asked, performing the Bartowski Eyebrow Dance. He could simply not get enough of his wonderful kick-ass girlfriend. Especially on occasions like tonight. She was simply breathtaking in the blue top and blue pendant which matched her eyes.

"I want to. It was your first formal mission and a resounding success at that. I would really love to stay and have a private celebration with you," she said, her voice a husky whisper. "But I can't. I have to go and file my report, which is already overdue, by the way."

"I guess we'll have to take a raincheck for tomorrow," he said and kissed her injured lip lightly. Sarah smiled and turned towards her car. She was about to open the door when Casey appeared.

"Well Walker, did you have a good time with the Nerd?"

"I always do. Is there anything I can do for you, Casey?"

"Besides remembering to submit your mission report in a timely fashion next time, no, there is not."

"Tonight was part of my mission too. A fortuitous side effect of my relationship with Chuck is that it helps my cover."

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I wanted to give you this."

"What's in them?" Sarah asked, taking the two DVDs from Casey.

"You'll see," he replied with a smirk. "Just make sure you watch them in order, I have them numbered."

"I'll keep that in mind. Goodnight Casey."

"Goodnight Walker."

Sarah returned to her hotel room and fired up her laptop. While waiting for the operating system to load, she poured herself a glass of wine. Then she settled down to type her report on the mission. When she was finished she double-checked it and submitted it. Graham had called earlier to congratulate her for the capture of the elusive La Ciudad and added the thanks of the MI6 as well. Sarah ran a hand over her jaw and her lip where Malena had gotten in a lucky kick. _Note to self,_ she thought, _gotta be more careful in order to avoid blows to the face in the future._ Looking at her clock, she saw it was getting late. She quickly changed into her pajamas and went to bed. The last thing she needed was to have Scooter read her the riot act for being late for work in the morning. Her cover job at the Wienerlicious was too important for Chuck's safety, otherwise she wouldn't mind getting fired. Why couldn't the CIA find her a better cover job? Her gaze wandered over to the dresser and the DVDs Casey had given her. She would watch them later.

The following day was a normal one. Normal meaning that she had to try hard to restrain herself from causing Scooter serious bodily harm on several occasions. The only bright spot had been her lunch break, which she'd spent with Chuck. Fortunately (for her cover job) and at the same time unfortunately (for she had to put up with Scooter) Graham and Beckman had not contacted them to assign them any mission and Chuck hadn't flashed on anything. So when her shift ended she raced back to her room and immediately went to the shower to scrub the sausage smell off of her. Chuck had promised to drop by later for a pizza and cuddling evening and she wanted to look (and smell) her best.

In the meantime Chuck had returned home from the Buy More and found Awesome in the living room.

"Hey Chuckster, how was your day?"

"It was OK, Devon. Just the usual; not much work to do thankfully."

"Good. Ellie and I are planning to go out later. Wanna tag along?"

"No, thanks. I have already made plans with Sarah."

"That's awesome, bro."

"It is. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go take a shower and kill time with Morgan. He'll be here in a few minutes," said Chuck. Unfortunately Ellie heard only the part about Morgan as she came into the living room.

"Seriously, Chuck? You have a wonderful girlfriend and you'll be playing video games with Morgan?"

"Until the time comes to go to Sarah's yes, that's the plan," he replied, totally unfazed.

"Oh. I take it all back."

"Your little brother is a good planner, El. He's making time for his family, friends and girlfriend."

"Yes, I really like this new side of him."

Sarah put on a pair of skin tight jean shorts and a halter top, arranged some scented candles, placing them in strategic locations around the room and also took the time to paint her toenails. She still had a few minutes left until Chuck would show up, so she decided to see what Casey had given her. She popped the DVD number 1 in her computer and sat cross-legged on the bed to see what it was all about. It turned out to be a video shot by a photographer covering the charity auction. She watched wide eyed as Chuck danced a tango with La Ciudad. Chuck had told her and Casey that he'd done some preparation, and he really appeared to dance well, if a bit… Sarah couldn't exactly nail it, until she realized that Malena was leading. Chuck looked like he only knew the girl's part of the tango. But it was still quite enjoyable to watch and she couldn't help but laugh at her boyfriend's antics.

When the first video was over, she inserted the number 2 DVD and sat back to watch. It was obviously from the interior surveillance of Chuck's apartment, specifically from the living room.

"So that's what Chuck meant by saying he'd done some preparation," she mused aloud. The video of Devon trying to teach the tango to Chuck and Ellie's reactions caused her to start laughing again, hard. One of the funniest moments was the "spending many a night tangoing his way into señoritas' pantalones" quip by Devon and Ellie's unavoidable stern look.

Chuck had just arrived outside her door carrying the pizza (vegetarian, no olives) when he heard her laughing. In fact she was laughing so hard that she almost didn't hear him when he knocked on the door. She was still trying to regain her composure when she finally let him in.

"Hey Sarah, care to tell me what's so funny?" Chuck asked. Instead of answering right away she kissed him.

"That's for making my day, even unknowingly," she said.

"Why, what did I do this time?"

"Come in and take a seat," she said and he obeyed.

"Well?"

"Let's get started on that pizza and you'll see, Mr. Carmichael."

"Are you playing with me, Sarah?"

"No, I'm just hungry." She took a bite out of her first slice. "And this is what was so funny," she said and played him the first video. "I was a bit curious as to why you let her lead. It reminded me of Harry Tasker and Juno Skinner though – in a way."

"Sarah, have you seen True Lies?"

"I'm a spy, Chuck. By default it means that I enjoy watching spy comedies."

"Another real thing I learned about you."

"Yes. As I said, I was wondering why you'd learned the girl's part, but then I watched this," she said and started the video of the tango lesson.

"Where did you get that from?"

"Casey," she replied. "He gave me the videos. Hahaha! Watching you and Devon is like watching the Blue Oyster scenes from Police Academy! And Ellie… she really enjoyed it, didn't she?"

"Sarah, are you okay?" Chuck asked, placing a hand on her forehead to feel for a temperature.

"I'm fine, why?" Sarah said, swatting his hand away.

"You made two popular culture references in the same evening!"

"Aw, c'mon! Everyone's seen Police Academy!"

"That proves you are definitely not a cannibal-"

"A point I've been trying to make ever since I met you."

"But you are learning to be funny, which is a big step forward in my book."

"What can I say? You are rubbing off on me."

They finished the pizza and Sarah suggested that she teach him the proper way to dance the tango, which he immediately accepted. She dimmed the lights, lit the candles and started the music. Chuck was a good student and soon he was able to take the lead. When their last dance ended, he was leaning forward, supporting her with an arm under her waist as she arched her back, her hair falling almost to the floor. He still held her securely when he bent down and kissed her passionately. Almost before they knew it their clothes were strewn all over the floor and they were in bed making love, the perfect ending to a perfect evening.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** This is my adaptation of the Wookie episode. It gets a little serious at one point, but returns to light hearted soon.

Thank you for your encouraging reviews on the previous chapters.

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Wookie - and Carina**

Chuck was in bed with a very naked Sarah Walker who was snuggled up against him, her head pillowed on his chest and her arm draped over his torso. He had just hung up on Morgan who had called for the tenth time inquiring about his possibilities with the redhead hottie they had met earlier. Said hottie was none other than Carina Miller, DEA agent and apparently close friend of Sarah's. He kept thinking about their new mission and the events of the day.

Less than twenty-four hours ago it had been game night with Ellie, Awesome and Morgan. Sarah had mentioned having a sister. He had asked about it as he was walking her to her car and she'd said it was true; she really had a sister, whom Chuck wanted to meet some day. He'd said that much to Sarah.

After he first saw Carina in the morning and after he flashed on her file he also noticed residual traces of a bloody nose on his girlfriend. When he inquired about it she told him of Carina's visit and the scuffle that almost cost the life of an innocent bystander – Sarah's goldfish. After work he helped her clean up the mess in her room.

His thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing of is phone. He'd put it on vibrate lest he allow Morgan to disturb Sarah with his incessant calls.

"Morgan, no, she hasn't called in the three minutes since we last spoke- Oh, sorry ma'am, yes, I am the on-call Nerd Herder for all Nerd Herd computer emergencies… Your address please… Yes, I'll be there in thirty minutes." He got up, but as he did his lovely girlfriend woke up.

"Chuck, where are you going?" Sarah asked sleepily.

"I have a computer emergency to respond to. I'll be back before you know it."

"Hmmm, okay," she mumbled and went back to sleep.

Chuck quickly put on his Nerd Herd uniform, grabbed his keys and went to get the Herder. Traffic was very light at this hour and he made good time to his destination. In the meantime Sarah was sleeping peacefully in his bed, when a call roused her again from her slumber. She picked up her phone and saw Casey's scowling face looking at her from the caller ID screen.

"What is it?" She was understandably irritable.

"I just got up to take a leak, Walker-"

"That's pretty normal for your old age, Casey." The snide comment was a result of her irritation for having her Chuck dream rudely interrupted. Casey ignored it.

"And I saw on the tracker display that the twerp is no longer in his apartment."

"Computer emergency," she said. "He is the on-call Herder for tonight. Is this why you called me?" She was getting angry. Casey knew better than to bother her with such trivial things.

"You might want to know that he was called to the Marriott."

"The hell you say!" Sarah was instantly fully awake.

"Yeah, I was right. You did want to know."

"Shut up Casey," she growled and hung up.

"Time to get some payback for Prague," Casey said aloud, idly flipping his phone between his fingers.

Sarah was furious as she got dressed and dashed to her car. _The slut! She's after MY Chuck too now_, she thought angrily as she sped towards the Marriott. She's seen how Carina had been acting around Chuck and she knew that it was calculated to do two things: get information on Sarah's relationship with Chuck and seduce Chuck just to spite Sarah. Carina had obviously not bought the cover relationship thing they had told her.

Chuck knocked on the door of the room he'd been told to go to. Imagine his surprise when Carina, wearing a black silk robe opened it.

"Hey Chuck," she said. He just stood there frozen. The boy clearly needed some motivation. "Use your feet," she added.

"Uh, hi, I'm here for the computer emergency," he stammered. "Where is your computer?"

"I don't have one. I lied to get you over here," Carina said in a sultry tone, while popping the cork off a bottle of champagne with a knife and pouring two glasses.

"Why would you do that?" He was standing still, clutching the Nerd Herd briefcase in front of him like a shield.

"Because I know you are with us."

"Who's 'us'? Who's with us?" Chuck stammered. She offered him a glass of champagne. "Oh thank you," he said politely, "but no thank you, I can't-"

"You can't access my file to know about Argentina unless you have a G-6 clearance or higher," she said, referring to a comment he had made earlier in the day when he'd flashed on her file. "Cheers to spying," she added, clicking glasses with him. She pushed him on the bed and shrugged the robe off her shoulders, revealing her extremely sexy red underwear. "I hope you like what you see."

"I… I should probably call Sarah. Sarah should probably be here, I think it would be important for her to know," he stammered, taking his phone out.

"You're not much of a spy, are you?" Carina asked, taking the phone from him and tossing it on the bed. "I know how many more clues, I can take off," she said seductively, playing with one of the straps of her bra. "But if Sarah were here, I couldn't seduce you. Unless maybe you are into this sort of thing." She was teasing him the whole time.

He swallowed hard. "Just one minute," he managed to say and tossed back the champagne in his glass with one gulp. She climbed on to the bed and moved behind him, pressing her body against his.

"Or maybe I'm wrong and you are already sleeping with Sarah. Are you sleeping with Sarah?" The question was whispered sexily in his ear. He couldn't stop squirming.

"You know that a gentleman never…"

"Oh got it. Well, that makes sense… considering Bryce."

"Bryce… Bryce? What are you talking about?"

"What you don't know about Bryce? Bryce Larkin, her boyfriend?"

Chuck had a really stunned look on his face. Unbeknownst to both him and Carina, Sarah was listening in on them on the other side of the door. At first she was proud of her boyfriend for trying to protect their relationship by not giving any indications that it was more than a cover, but soon she felt her blood beginning to boil. She quickly picked the lock and entered. Chuck and Carina looked up and saw a royally pissed off Sarah Walker stomp into the room.

"BITCH!" Sarah yelled. "I specifically told you to stay away from my team in general and Chuck in particular! But no, you had to go and try to seduce him and also shoot your mouth off about Bryce! For your information, Carina, I broke up with Bryce months ago, before I was sent to Afghanistan!"

"Afghanistan?" Carina asked, taken aback by Sarah's furious outburst. "Then what are you doing here in Snoresville?"

"It's a long story."

"Afghanistan," said Chuck. His eyes widened as he realized something. "Then you weren't really in a car accident!"

"Accident? Sarah, what accident is he talking about?" Carina demanded.

"Nothing," Sarah replied, still mad at Carina.

"Sarah, tell me! What happened to you?"

"Nothing!" Sarah was trembling with rage. Chuck rose and put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Sarah, it's OK. Come on, I'll take you home."

"Chuck, please," Carina said, "tell me what happened to my baby sister!"

"WHAT? Sarah? Carina is the sister you told me about?"

"Yes. Yes, she is. But, Chuck, tell her nothing."

"It's okay Sarah. Let's go," he said.

"No! You are not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!" Carina exclaimed, shutting the door and positioning herself between it and the couple. While doing so she noticed how protectively Chuck was holding Sarah and how she was clinging to him. "Oh crap… you are not just in a cover relationship… you really ARE together."

"Yes," Sarah said simply.

"Chuck, I'm sorry! I love taking what Sarah wants, but I'd never take what she already has. I'd never do that to my own sister."

"OK Carina," he said. "Apology accepted."

"Now you two will tell me exactly what happened. I need to know." With that she steered them both to the bed and had them sit down. Sarah looked up at Chuck and nodded. He told Carina everything he knew and Sarah filled in the gaps. By the time they were finished, Carina was holding her sister tightly, gently stroking her hair. "Sarah, why didn't you give me a call? At the time I was thinking you were deep undercover."

"I didn't want you to see me… to see how I was…" Sarah said with tears in her eyes.

"Shhh… It's over now. And a lot of good came out of it. You met a great guy. You know he's the only one who has managed to resist me, right?"

"That's why I love him."

They spent some more time talking and then Chuck and Sarah returned home. The mission took place the following day. As usual, Carina improvised and got away with the diamond, pissing her sister off – again. Casey went after her, but she managed to blindside him and left him cuffed to her bed, gagged, clad only in his undershirt and clover leaf adorned boxer shorts. Sarah found him like this and could not resist snapping a picture with her phone before Peyman's men found them. In the end, they managed to complete the mission with help from Chuck and Carina and the diamond was on its way to Washington, courtesy of Fed Ex and Chuck's quick thinking.

After receiving congratulations from their bosses, Carina bade them all goodbye and left to take another assignment. Sarah and Casey were finishing with their reports when Chuck walked in the NSA agent's apartment.

"Sarah? Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, shoot."

"Do you have a picture of the diamond? I need one for my secret scrapbook."

"You have a scrapbook, Moron?" Casey asked, visibly not pleased.

"It's well hidden, relax Casey," Chuck said.

"It's in here," Sarah said, tossing him her phone. "I downloaded it from the briefing file."

Chuck browsed through the picture folders and found a JPEG titled 'Just like Prague'.

"What is this one? The 'Just like Prague' file, I mean."

"Open it and you die," growled Casey. But it was too late. Chuck had already clicked it. He started laughing immediately, not even the daggers Casey was glaring at him managing to make him stop. Sarah started laughing too.

Later, after things had calmed down Sarah once again allowed her mind to wander to something that had been bothering her since the previous day. Chuck had referred to Peyman Alahi, this case's bad guy, as 'Señor Wookie'. She was sure she had heard the word 'Wookie' before, but could not remember where. It could easily be a pop culture reference, but she was loath to ask Chuck about it. So she resolved to find out on her own. Putting her agent reasoning to work, she determined that since Chuck had also described Peyman as having a 'fur sweater' due to his body hair, this Wookie must be something very hairy. She paced around her room trying to think a possible solution. An idea came to her and turned her computer on. She would try to find something online.

"Okay Sarah, think," she said aloud. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. She was unsure of the spelling. Was it 'wookie" or 'woukie"? Were the last letters of the word 'ie' or 'y'? She decided to try an image search based on the various possible spelling combinations. Soon she was rewarded as the search assistant prompted her to try the word "wookie". When the results appeared on the screen she mentally kicked herself. Of course it was Star Wars! Admittedly, she was more familiar with the Wookie's name, Chewbacca, but she'd actually seen the old Star Wars trilogy many years ago. "Chuck's gonna be so proud of me," she told herself.

In the evening, when Chuck dropped by with a pizza, she surprised him with Star Wars Episode IV.

"Sarah, what is this?"

"You mentioned the Wookie. And it made me want to see the movie again. And if you behave, we'll watch the other two original parts of the trilogy in the next couple of days."

"Then I have no choice but to do as you say, your Majesty."

After the movie Sarah had also demanded compensation for the night her sister had interrupted. So hours later she lay spent on top of her equally exhausted boyfriend. It had been quite a ride. She was so happy that she whispered something in his ear.

"It's Lisa; my middle name is Lisa," she said. He only held her tighter and tenderly kissed her cheek, excited to learn another real thing about her.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** I'm really glad to see that you approve of my choice for the mini sequels and that you like them. Here's another one.

Forgive me for lifting so much dialogue and stuff straight from the show, but right now I'm also working on the plot line for another fic among other things.

* * *

"_Dinner with you and Morgan. Hmmm, I'd rather have Afghani warlords bleed me from my liver."_

_John Casey_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Big Trouble in Chinatown (sizzling shrimp, fireworks and all)**

"He's a happy person," Chuck said after hearing the latest sarcastic remark from his NSA protector.

"Uh-huh," Sarah agreed, sexily raising her eyebrows, closing her lips around her straw and taking a sip of soda.

"I appreciate that about him. And he works hard, so…" Chuck kept rambling about Casey's behavior, trying to get his mind off how incredibly sexy Sarah looked in her Wienerlicious uniform. Mild mannered Nerd he might be, but on occasions like this it was all he could do not to grab her and ravish her right there on the Nerd Herd desk. He even tried to think about something totally unrelated to his spy life, like cartoons, but inevitably her front teeth and her pigtails made him think that if she were a cartoon, she'd be the sexiest character from Looney Tunes, Lola Bunny, which really didn't help. She seemed to sense his mood and gave him a smile full of promises for the night.

After dark Chuck, Sarah and Morgan were taking a stroll in Chinatown.

"An evening with Morgan will consist of three acts," the short bearded man said, while walking between the happy couple. "Act one, dinner."

"What are we having?" Sarah asked, genuinely curious.

"A little delicacy called sizzling shrimp. That's right. We're going to pack our bellies so full of shrimp we're going to make a seal jealous," replied Morgan, playfully poking Sarah in her stomach with a finger. Chuck noticed that she jumped slightly. A new piece of information was entered in a partitioned section of his brain, a section not taken by Intersect data, but dedicated to the storage and processing of information on one super hot, super sexy blonde super spy. The high and mighty Sarah Walker was ticklish. It might come in handy on occasion.

"Wow, sounds like quite a night," she said, not knowing that she had just inadvertently revealed another real thing about her to Chuck.

"Oh, and that's just the beginning," continued Morgan. "Dinner will be followed by a screening over at Chuck's of the greatest kung-fu film ever made…"

"ENTER THE DRAGON," Chuck and Morgan said together and proceeded to parody a fight scene and the poor dubbing typical of Hong Kong films of that era. It was really funny and she laughed.

"Okay," Morgan said, conceding 'defeat' at the hands of his superior opponent, "and the third can only be found here in Chinatown. There he is, be cool."

"Wait a minute," Chuck said, his voice full of worry, grabbing his friend's arm and turning him around. "I thought you were off this stuff buddy."

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry Chuck, right? Daddy needs his fix, you know," Morgan said and nodded to a man down the street. Sarah was immediately worried too. Morgan, Chuck's best friend was some kind of junkie? Admittedly he did have an unhealthy addiction to Red Bull and grape soda, but this was way more serious.

"Dude," insisted Chuck, "you know how I feel about fireworks!" Sarah let out the breath she realized she'd been holding. No drugs were involved, although she wasn't completely sure that fireworks were not a threat to the physical safety of the Intersect Host, who also happened to be her boyfriend.

"You know what? To defeat fear, one must embrace fear," insisted Morgan.

"I'd rather embrace my limbs, specifically all of them. No fireworks," Chuck said firmly.

"Well, can I say something? This evening gets an asterisk, OK? We've still got our shrimp on though," Morgan said and high-fived with Sarah.

The Bamboo Dragon restaurant had been closed for a private party according to a sign on the door and so Morgan resolved to get them the shrimp from an acquaintance of his who worked in the kitchen. From then on it all went south, as the Intersect chose that moment to ruin everything when Chuck flashed on a waitress, who was in fact a Chinese intelligence service agent.

The situation was resolved in the next couple of days, but at a steep cost. Due to him being fully occupied with the mission, Chuck had missed Mother's Day with Ellie and had been unable to help Morgan improve his skills as a salesman. Fortunately Ellie had gone to the rescue by buying presents for Devon and Chuck early. Even Sarah had helped, when she'd heard about Morgan's problem. Chuck had also been scared to death for Sarah when Ben Lo Pan's goons had caught her, Casey and Mei Ling, the Chinese spy. Sarah had staged a diversion so that Casey could tell Chuck to get away, but risking a bullet or ten in the back for her trouble.

The one good thing that came out of the whole deal was the bonding between Ellie and Morgan over their 'I miss Chuck' moment. He made it up to Ellie by attending a rescheduled Mother's Day dinner along with Sarah and Morgan. Sarah in turn had gotten to better understand what family and friends meant to Chuck.

But he felt he needed to do more to show Morgan how much he cared about their friendship, so he talked Sarah into giving the 'Evening of Morgan' another try. Thus they found themselves strolling in Chinatown again.

"I hope the Bamboo Dragon will be open today," Morgan said guardedly. He really didn't want a repeat of the other night's fiasco.

"It will, little buddy, I checked," replied Chuck. Sarah leaned on him and smiled meaningfully. Being a good agent, she'd had Casey help her run background checks on all employees of the restaurant to verify that they were not Triad.

The meal at the restaurant was uneventful and she had to admit that sizzling shrimp was an excellent delicacy. In fact, she was determined to work out more in the morning to burn off the excess calories, since she'd overindulged herself on the food. She couldn't help it, for it was all so good. She'd also enjoyed watching Enter the Dragon, cuddled with Chuck on the couch. Morgan had been disappointed a bit, since the fireworks guy had been nowhere to be seen. Chuck and Sarah had to suppress laughter, since they both knew that Chuck had bought the man's entire stock two days ago to create a diversion in order to slip in the restaurant and free his friends. Still, Chuck had managed to make up for it in a way, by playing a video of a fireworks show after the movie.

"Well, Sarah, how was the Evening of Morgan?" Chuck asked after his friend had left to go home.

"It was fantastic."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. Although I'll have to do an extra long workout session tomorrow."

"Why's that?"

"I ate too much today and I need to keep in shape."

"Well then, you'd better start right now!"

"Huh?"

Instead of replying, Chuck gave her a searing kiss and scooped her up in his arms, carrying her to his room.

"Ellie and Awesome are both working the night shift at the hospital," he finally told her. He then dumped her unceremoniously on the bed and pounced, tickling her all over.

"Hah! Chuck! Ha-ha-ha! Stop! Heh! I, hah, can't breathe! Ho-ha-hah! Stop it!"

"One more truth about Agent Walker revealed," he said, stopping the sweet torture only when the non-stop laughing brought tears to her eyes and she was completely out of breath. "She really is ticklish!"

"How did you know?"

"Morgan. You know, the other night, when he was talking about the sizzling shrimp," he said and poked her just like Morgan had done.

"Oh, you are so going to pay for this, Chuck Bartowski!"

"Make me!"

Later…

"I hope you enjoyed the fireworks as much as I did, Chuck," she panted, rolling on her back and trying to catch her breath.

"Oh yeah," he said. "It was amazing. I only hope the neighbors won't call the police. We were kind of loud, especially you." It was true. Sarah had been really vocal tonight.

"I wouldn't worry about that."

"How come?"

"Not even Casey's at home tonight. We are the only people in this section of the apartment complex."

"I should have known that you'd know. Well, on the plus side, you won't need the extra workout time," he said, running his fingers over her bare shoulder. His touch and the room's cool air against her sweat slicked body caused her to shiver slightly, so she snuggled closer to Chuck for warmth. He pulled the covers over them both and wrapped her in his arms.

Next thing they knew, the alarm clock was blaring to wake them up in the morning.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Not much to say here, except... enjoy!

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs Halloween**

Chuck entered the apartment upset after his encounter with Laszlo at the Santa Monica Pier arcade. He had informed Sarah of the flash and now he wanted to know how the matter would be handled.

"Hey, um, is Sarah here?" The question was directed to both Ellie and Devon, who were cuddling on the couch watching TV and eating potato chips.

"She's waiting in your room," answered Devon.

"Everything okay?" Ellie asked.

"Said she had a surprise for you," Devon said before Chuck had a chance to answer his sister's question. "Get in there, slugger!"

Chuck raced to his room where he found Sarah, who was looking great in a blue top and a short denim skirt. This time however he was too worried to pay much attention to her wardrobe choices.

"Hey, who is this Laszlo character? He just ID'd me as an agent," he said without preamble.

"Relax, we're looking into him and you did the right thing," she said, trying to get him to calm down.

"I… I didn't do anything! I just flashed on the guy!"

"You followed protocol. And I'm gonna check in with you first thing in the morning," she said, in full agent mode. She turned to leave, but Chuck stopped her.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, wait," he rambled. "Look, if it's cool with you, I mean if I'm not distracting you from your duties, can you hang out for a little while?" She gave him a quizzing look and he quickly explained the situation to her. "Look, Awesome and Ellie think that I'm kind of getting lucky in here and I wouldn't want to disappoint them. I mean, I know I've… _we_ have it well covered in that department, but they don't know about our _other_ business, so it's natural for them to think that we are getting freaky right now." He was giving her the eyebrow dance again as he spoke and she smiled.

"Oh. How long do you want me to stay?"

"Forty-eight minutes and twelve seconds; Arcade Fire's first album," he explained, answering her unspoken question as to the precise duration of the period he wanted her to stay for. "It's like an auditory aphrodisiac." He put the music on and sat on the bed with her, snaking an arm around her waist and pulling her close. She relaxed and leaned on him.

"Why were you waiting for me in my room anyway?" Chuck asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

"Well, I wanted to surprise you," she said and took something from the nightstand. It was a framed picture, which she gave to Chuck. "It's us at Comic-Con. What do you think?" He took a good look at it. He was dressed as Han Solo in the picture, while Sarah was standing next to him in a Princess Leia bikini. They both had very wide happy smiles on their faces.

"That's great… But we've never actually been to Comic-Con, have we? But it looks so real…"

"Chuck, consider it a promise. I really want us to go to Comic-Con together some day," she said and lightly brushed her lips over his. _I'll even wear that outfit for you_, she thought, but didn't verbalize it. "And thanks. I made the picture myself on my computer. I may not be as good as you with the hardware, but at least I can do something with Photoshop."

"I love it. And I'm gonna hold you to that promise. You and I, together at Comic-Con."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I know you wouldn't. I only hope that the government and the Intersect will let us go and not saddle us with a mission."

"As far as the government is concerned, I can ask for some leave time."

"And what about the Intersect? What if I flash on something?"

"Then I guess you'll have to go without TV, internet or newspapers for a few days before we leave for San Diego."

"Small price to pay in order to go to Comic-Con with the girl of my dreams."

"Hmmm, you may have to make another sacrifice of sorts."

"You mean we'll have to take Casey along too?"

"Uh-huh. I don't think that Graham and Beckman will let us go by ourselves."

"In that case…"

"What?"

"Then we'll need to find a costume for Casey as well. Preferably one with a mask, as I'm sure he will be unwilling to show his face in a geek convention."

"He can come as the Wookie, Han Solo's loyal friend," she said with a devilish smile.

"As much as I'd love to see him in such a costume, I believe a Darth Vader outfit would be more appropriate for him, if we decide to stick with the Star Wars universe."

"Darth Casey, Dark Lord of the NSA and Cold School Killer, it should be one for the history books," she giggled. She knew that Casey had Chuck's apartment bugged and she was almost certain she could hear his disgusted grunt even from across the courtyard.

In his apartment Casey had indeed grunted in disgust, thinking that having to listen to everything going on in the Moron's place could easily qualify as cruel and unusual punishment, especially considering the subjects of many conversations he'd been forced to eavesdrop on during the performance of his duties as Chuck's handler. He made a face and uttered an 'ugh' as the sound of Bartowski and Walker sucking face filled his headphones.

Chuck and Sarah had indeed kissed and now they were again sitting together on his bed, listening to the music playing from the stereo, dreamy expressions on their faces. Sarah was leaning on Chuck, whose hand was resting on her shoulder, holding her close. When the music stopped, she got up and kissed him again before she left to go discuss mission strategy with her NSA partner.

The following day Chuck tried to get his best friend to start taking things more seriously and after work ran into Laszlo again. He made the mistake of relating to him as a fellow asset who pined for a normal life, against his better judgment, which was telling him to trust his handlers. He even confronted Casey on the issue of the bugs planted in the apartment he shared with Ellie and Devon. In the end he realized that Laszlo was off his rocker and belatedly tried to get him to see reason and accept help from him, Casey, Sarah and Agent Katz, his handler. But the young mad scientist hijacked the Herder by taking advantage of the CIA-added extras of his own design and during the inevitable chase used the ejection seat feature to get rid of Chuck, who ended up skidding along on the road still strapped into the seat. He managed to stop by using his feet as brakes. Sarah jumped from the Suburban to check up on him.

"Chuck! Chuck, are you okay? Talk to me," she said, worry clouding her beautiful face. She crouched next to him and unbuckled his seatbelt.

"I'm fine. I think," he said, getting up. Immediately he started jumping up and down from the intense heat built up in the still smoking soles of his shoes from the friction on the asphalt. "Water, water, WATER!" Chuck yelled. The gravity of the situation notwithstanding and despite herself Sarah started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Chuck shrieked, still trying to find at least a small puddle of water to cool his shoes and feet in.

"Sorry Chuck," she said, still laughing but trying desperately to stop, "it's just… hah, it's just like the movie we watched with Ellie and Awesome the other day. Ha-ha-ha! Sorry! But you are acting just like Harrison Ford after he braked the ore car with his feet!"

"Who knew that Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom would come back to haunt me," lamented Chuck.

"Come on, let's go home. And don't worry, we'll get Laszlo."

On Halloween Chuck was still feeling bad about being so fooled by Laszlo. He felt responsible for allowing him to escape. On top of that he had heard his handlers arguing; Sarah had been really not pleased to learn that Casey had placed a bug inside the frame of the picture she'd given her boyfriend, who'd been understandably upset when he'd found it, thinking she'd planted it. That day he also had the interview with the corporate HR guy for the Assistant Manager position at the Buy More. Flashing on a drawing Laszlo had given him as an IOU of sorts, he realized that the madman was planning to blow up the Santa Monica Pier. Alerting Sarah and Casey he raced there, using his knowledge of Goldfinger to disable the Herder's self destruct explosive device. Sarah and Casey placed Laszlo under arrest. In saving the day he skipped the AM interview and the position went to Tang by default, despite Morgan's attempt to support Chuck's candidacy by praising him to Mr. Mercer, the HR guy. Chuck learned of his friend's actions after he returned to the Buy More. He knew how he could repay Morgan. He hurried back home, where the Halloween party was in full swing and, as was their custom, did the Sandworm again with his buddy, this time letting him be the head. Ellie interrupted them.

"Chuck, Chuck honey! Honey…"

"In the back," said Morgan.

"Uh, hi," Chuck said, coming out of the Sandworm.

"How did it go?" Ellie asked, obviously expecting to hear that her little brother was the new assistant manager of the Burbank Buy More.

"The short version is that I didn't get the job."

"What?" Ellie was really upset.

"I just kind of skipped out on the interview."

"It was my fault," Sarah said, coming to Chuck's rescue before Ellie's temper could explode.

"Hello," Morgan said, seeing his pal's girl in the Princess Leia slave costume from the Return of the Jedi. Chuck also stared at her slack jawed. He'd seen her perfect body many times and without any clothing, but now… wow.

"I had a personal emergency and Chuck really came through," she continued. "He probably wouldn't admit it, but your brother is kind of a hero," she told Ellie, who immediately calmed down. It was so typical of Chuck to think of others before himself.

Chuck and Sarah went to his room to talk. Sarah also had a surprise for him; she took a photo of them together, wanting to give him another real picture as well to add to his growing collection. And just to spite Casey who was listening in through the bugs, he asked for Sarah's opinion on the discussion he was having with Morgan about the kind of sandwich they would take if they ended up stranded on a deserted island. She found it really funny and gladly complied, also wanting a good laugh at her partner's expense.

In the summer, on the road to San Diego for the Comic-Con

"C'mon Casey," said Chuck, "It'll be fun! Just relax and enjoy the ride."

*grunt* (You are lucky I have to follow orders, Moron, otherwise I wouldn't be here right now)

"So did you decide on your costume?" Sarah asked.

"Grrrr…"

"He did," Chuck answered for him. "Sarah, be sure to thank Director Graham for me. His people did a great job getting us the four-day passes."

"I already thanked him on your behalf. But tell me, what costume did Casey bring along? I'm dying to know."

"I could tell you, I suppose. However, I'd like to test your nerd knowledge." He pushed a button on the car stereo system and the Imperial March started playing.

"Darth Vader!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Just like the Moron said before Halloween, I'm not about to show my face in there. Unlike you two, I have a modicum of self respect and a reputation to protect," said Casey.

"Suit yourself, Casey," she said flippantly. "Chuck and I are going to have a lot of fun."

"That we are, honey." Both Chuck and Sarah laughed at Casey's expression.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Glad to see that you are having as much fun reading these one-shots as I do writing them. Here's the next one.

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs College Football**

Sarah paused outside Chuck's room, holding Professor Fleming's disc in her hands. She sniffled, trying to prevent the tears from spilling down her cheeks and regain her composure. Maybe Chuck was right and Bryce had a good reason for stealing the Intersect and sending it to him. Moving to the living room, she took another deep calming breath.

"Walker," Casey said from the courtyard, "do you have Fleming's disc?"

"Yeah, I got it right here," she replied.

"Good. We've got orders to send it to Washington."

"Here you go Casey," she said, moving to the open window and handing him the disc.

"Did Bartowski open his file?"

"He did."

"Well?"

"It's complicated. He'll tell you about it when he's ready. Just give him some space now."

Casey nodded and went to his apartment to call headquarters and wait for a CIA courier. Sarah was pondering on whether she should stay and spend the evening with Chuck, or just go to her hotel room and get some rest when Ellie got out of the bathroom and saw her.

"Sarah, good thing you're still here. I need your help."

"What can I do for you, Ellie?"

"It's rather funny; you know Devon painted the UCLA initials on his face in the morning."

"Yes," Sarah said guardedly.

"Apparently one of his bros picked up the kind of paint that's a pain to wash off."

"And Devon can't wash it off his face."

"Exactly."

"So not awesome, as he would say."

"Well, can you help?"

"What do you need me to do?"

"Right now, you can offer some bright ideas."

"I can do that."

The girls marched together into the bathroom where Devon was furiously trying to scrub the paint off his cheeks.

"Devon, I brought reinforcements," announced Ellie.

"Good, because this isn't coming off," he said.

"Did you try soap?" Sarah asked.

"Every kind of soap we have in here," answered Devon.

"Hmm, what about the extra strong disinfectant soap you use to scrub down before surgery?"

"I don't think we have any in here, Sarah," said Ellie.

"Ladies, I have an idea. You make your suggestions and I will take notes. Then we'll decide on the best solution."

"Why not?" Ellie said.

"Works for me," agreed Sarah.

"You go first," said Ellie. Devon grabbed a notepad and pencil and patiently waited for the girls' suggestions.

"De-makeup pads," began Sarah.

"We tried them; didn't work. Pumice stone."

"Pure alcohol."

"Exfoliating products."

"Nail polish solvent."

"Nail file."

"Detergent."

"Fine grit sandpaper."

"Bleach."

"Coarse sandpaper."

"Window cleaner."

"Potato peeler."

"Turpentine."

"Cheese grater."

"Nitrocellulose thinner."

"Old fashioned straight razor."

"Ellie, Sarah, I just want to get that stuff off. I definitely don't want to end up with chemical burns or skinned alive," Devon admonished mock-seriously and the girls burst out laughing.

"It was so funny," Ellie said, still laughing.

"It was," agreed Sarah. "Sorry Devon."

Chuck had retrieved his Stanford memorabilia from the trash outside when he heard the laughter as he was going back to his room. Curious, he poked his head inside the bathroom.

"What's going on?"

"Hey bro, the ladies were debating ways to help me get the paint off."

"Did they come up with anything useful?"

"See for yourself, Chuckster," Devon said, handing him the list.

"Oh wow! That stuff can cause some serious damage!"

"Luckily they were both kidding."

"I think I can help you Captain." Chuck disappeared to his room for a minute and returned with a small bottle. "We used this once when Morgan had painted his face green and yellow at the Buy More before the last Super Bowl. It was about the only thing that managed to do the trick and wash the paint off. Let me know if it works for you."

"Thanks bro."

"Don't mention it."

Devon was left alone in the bathroom to try Chuck's miracle solution. Ellie went to the kitchen after convincing Sarah to stay for dinner, not that she needed much convincing anyway. Chuck and Sarah retired to his room. She saw the cardboard box by the bed.

"Chuck, what's this?"

"It's my Stanford stuff. I had thrown it away earlier today, but now…"

"Now you know that Bryce was trying to protect you back then and you decided to keep it."

"Yes."

"Can I take a look?"

"Be my guest," he said. She sat down on the bed and picked up a Rubik's Cube from the box. Setting it aside, she took out a softball, a Stanford jersey, a dart gun, suction cup-tipped darts, a couple of books and a bunch of photos.

"What's with the gun, Chuck?"

"What? Oh, that. Bryce and I used to play 'Gotcha!' with the rest of the guys. He used to hide his spare darts where we found the disc."

"Sounds like he was cheating."

"Yeah, kind of…"

"Hey, that's you and Bryce," she said, holding up a photo.

"Bryce, me and a couple of others from the Gamma Delta Phi fraternity. We did have a lot of fun over there," he said longingly. Sarah said nothing; the Greek letters ΓΔΦ of Chuck's fraternity were somehow familiar. As she was going through the photos, she suddenly gasped.

"No way!"

"Sarah? Are you all right?"

"It's impossible," she said and handed Chuck a photo. He took a good look at it. It was from a Stanford vs Harvard game on his sophomore year and it showed him, Bryce and a girl. He was wearing a Stanford T-shirt and had his face painted red and white. Bryce also had warpaint on his face and he was wearing a Stanford jacket over the black fraternity T-shirt. The girl between them was a blonde in a Harvard Crimson jersey, her face also painted red, with a big white H in the middle of the forehead. The three of them held huge paper cups full of beer and were toasting the photographer.

"What?" Chuck asked. "It's from a game with Harvard."

"Look more carefully."

"No way!" He jumped up and kept looking at the photo in astonishment.

"That's what I said."

"THAT girl was YOU?"

"Yes, that was me all right. I don't believe I didn't remember meeting you guys."

"No wonder we don't remember each other from that day; we were all hammered. Plus we had all that paint on…"

"Chuck?"

"Yes?"

"When is the next Stanford versus Harvard game?"

"I can check. Why ask?"

"Because I want us to go to that game together. And we'll so kick your Stanford ass."

"Promises, promises. Harvard's football team is not what it used to be. In fact I bet that even our pathetic team can make short work of yours."

"You're on," she said.

"Loser cleans the winner's room and serves breakfast in bed for a week."

"Deal."

"Good. Get your broom ready and ask Ellie to intensify your cooking lessons, baby."

"Pretty sure of yourself, aren't you, Mr. Bartowski?" Sarah asked and tackled him back down on the bed. "Do you think we have time for a quickie? I want a deposit on my winnings."

"We do", he said, making a show of checking his watch. Clothes were shed in record time and things just followed their usual course from there.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Within the context of this AU including the Lou and Bryce arcs was very challenging. I pondered on skipping them, but in the end I decided to give it a shot. I also decided to play with the story style, adding some POV narratives. I only hope it worked.

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs the First Breakup**

"Well, I guess I'm gonna have to sell it," said Sarah. Her face took a sad and pained expression and looked at him with watery eyes. Then she ran out of the home theater room towards the exit sniffling and wiping the tears that were flowing down her cheeks. Jeff and Lester were watching in awe. They couldn't believe that the intrepid leader of the Nerd Herd, Chuck that is, would break up so coldly with the scorching hot Wiener Girl.

"Heart breaker," commented Jeff.

"Dream maker," added Lester.

"Love taker," finished Jeff.

In fact Chuck had been worried about Sarah. It upset him to see her like this. But he had a job to do. As he walked towards the Nerd Herd desk, Lester approached him and asked for permission to take a crack at Sarah as she was now sans boyfriend. Chuck gave him his blessing. _This is gonna be fun_, he thought. Sarah was way out of Lester's league.

Wait, how things got to that point? Better let the protagonists themselves explain.

Sarah

Honestly, it's not Chuck's fault. If anyone has to take the blame for it, it's Casey. He started the chain of events that led to Chuck breaking up with me. It started innocently enough, but the job just had to get in the way. We could have never seen it coming anyway, none of us could. I must confess, however, that my performance was worthy of an Academy Award, even if I say so myself. Hey, come to think of it, I could become an actress if I ever get bored of being a spy.

Casey

Okay, maybe what I made the Moron and the Skirt do was a bit harsh, but we have a job to do and the greater good demands sacrifices by those dedicated to protecting it, like Walker and me. Bartowski too, but in his case only because he is the Intersect. *grunt*

Chuck

Did I want to break up with Sarah? The answer is no, I most definitely didn't want to break up with her and she didn't want to break up with me. We were having a great time before our breakup… We were just so happy to be alive after all the stuff with the nuclear codes, Reardon Paine and his poisons. And I learned another fact about Sarah: she is trained to withstand truth serum. Does being glad for Sarah kneecapping Paine make me a bad person? He did poison my sister, so I think I have a good reason for being mad at him. Back to the present now. If we have to play the blame game, I believe it's safe to say it was all Casey's fault. Casey's and Big Mike's.

It all began when Lou Palone, the petite brunette who owns the deli in the mall, came to me with a broken Blackberry. She was really frantic about it, but I managed to reassure her and I fixed it for her. By the way, that girl is a study in opposites; she loves her Nana and has the mouth of a trucker for example. She was so grateful that she made a sandwich especially for me; she even named it 'The Chuck'. Maybe it was just me, but I think she was disappointed I already had a girlfriend. I believed she and I could be friends, nothing more. But the spy world had to mess up my life – again!

It all started the day after Lou picked up her repaired Blackberry. It was almost lunchtime, and Casey asked me to go get him a sandwich from Lou's while he was finishing some work at the loading dock. He was figuring that since she and I were becoming friends she would not force me to take a number. Big Mike overheard us and, being the gourmand he is, he also wanted me to get him a sandwich. In addition he mentioned something about me getting Lou to upgrade her business with Buy More help. Hey, Big Mike was thinking about the Buy More too, believing he could kill two birds with one stone.

To cut a long story a hell of a lot shorter, I went to Lou's to get the sandwiches and see if I could make an innocent nerdy suggestion about electronics to her. It should have gone down as planned, but I flashed on a poster she had on a wall, advertising a club owned by her ex. Stupid Intersect… of course I went and reported the flash to Casey. I went to him first, because I didn't want to hear him complaining about being Team Chuck's 'little fat kid' again. It was then when he had a bright idea on how to get close to Lou's ex and figure out what he was up to. This is what happened:

"Bartowski, since you flashed on the club's name, it must be the key," said Casey, when he, Chuck and Sarah got together to be briefed by General Beckman discuss the strategy for their new mission. The objective according to the General was a time sensitive package, possibly a weapon.

"Okay, so, we go clubbing?" Chuck asked.

"Not so fast, Moron. I don't know what intel we'll get by just checking out the club."

"You want to get close to this Lou girl's ex," concluded Sarah.

"She can introduce Bartowski to him, yes."

"Let me get this straight Casey. You want me and Lou to go to the club as friends, hoping she'll introduce me to her ex and I'll flash on him?"

"You get the gist. Except you are not going in as just a friend of hers. You'll be going in as her new boyfriend."

"WHAT?" Chuck and Sarah exclaimed together.

"No!" Chuck added.

"Definitely not. The whole mall knows I'm his girlfriend," said Sarah.

"They'll find it suspicious if I suddenly start cheating on my girlfriend."

"Fine, you two will just have to break up then."

"I'm not breaking up with Chuck!"

"And I'm definitely not breaking up with Sarah! Plus I don't want to make Lou think that we could have something between us. It'll break her heart when it's all over and I don't want that!"

"I won't compromise my cover either. It's built on Chuck and me being in a steady relationship!"

"Come on, you'll kiss and make up when the mission is over."

"It's not that easy, Casey! If I fake break up with Sarah the whole mall will know. And inevitably Ellie will get wind of it. And then you can kiss your precious Intersect goodbye. Ellie loves Sarah like a sister and she'll kill me if she thinks I've dumped her for no good reason."

"Find an excuse. Tell her you and Walker are having a rough patch, or tell her that you had a big fight. Just make it convincing."

"That's easy for you to say. You are not the one with a vested interest in our relationship. I have an idea: why don't you get close to Lou?"

"I'm not the one with an established social contact with her, idiot."

Eventually Casey had his way and Chuck 'broke up' with Sarah, going to Lou because 'he needed a friend's help to get over the breakup'. He tried not to get the brunette's hopes up, so that it would be easier on her when he'd 'make up' with Sarah after the mission. Of course he had to put up with Casey grumbling about him not being aggressive enough. In the meantime Lester tried to hit on the supposedly single Sarah only to be scared away by an overt display of aggressiveness on her part. She thought it was fun and planned to show Chuck the surveillance video from inside the Wienerlicious later. They would definitely have a good laugh with it.

Casey's plan worked – sort of. Chuck and Lou went to the club together and she innocently introduced him to her ex and his father, on whom Chuck flashed. The problem was when they found the bug Chuck had planted and on top of it Sarah and Casey had been led to a wild goose chase at the docks and made by the opposition. Not to mention that Lou's only involvement with the smuggling operations of her ex was taking deliveries of fresh deli meats he was bringing her, as she didn't want the ingredients for her sandwiches to have preservatives.

The aforementioned bug was traced to Chuck and he and Sarah ended up at the docks after being stuffed in a car trunk, in which they had their fist fight as a couple, because Chuck had made the mistake of not staying in the car and also taking his watch off. The fight was bound to happen someday… couples always have fights. Luckily, Casey managed to find them without compromising their covers by sending a fellow agent to get some information from Lou and led a tactical team to the rescue.

Chuck and Sarah eventually found the smuggled item. When they opened the crate they saw it was a huge capsule-shaped thing with a timer the logical conclusion being that it was a really big bomb. A really big bomb with less than a minute to go until it went off. Sarah knelt to work on the timer.

"OK… OK, Intersect, flash," muttered Chuck. "Show me how to do this."

"Did you flash?"

"No, nothing… Come on, come ON! Come on baby, don't fail me now, come on!" Chuck begged the Intersect to give him a flash on the bomb.

"Okay Chuck, that's enough. Run, I'm going to try and stay to defuse it."

"No, I'm not leaving you here!"

"Go! That is an order!"

"NO!"

"I said GO!" Sarah said, getting up and aiming her gun at Chuck in desperation.

"Oh. I see, so you're gonna shoot me to prevent me from being blown up? That's a great plan!"

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"Actually I consider this a rare moment of courage! I don't know where it's coming from, I guess you just bring out the worst in me!"

"And you in me!" Sarah said, finally putting her gun away and stepping closer to Chuck. The timer started beeping to announce that less than ten seconds were left. Chuck and Sarah looked at it.

"It was nice knowing you," he told her, as they turned back to look at each other. He closed his eyes. Sarah reached up, took his face in her hands and kissed him. She didn't want to die without saying goodbye to the man she loved while letting him know how much she loved him. Apparently he felt the same, because he responded to the kiss after the initial surprise. They were kissing passionately, desperately until they realized that there was no cataclysmic explosion, no searing ball of fire and then oblivion. Whatever that thing was, it was not a bomb. They opened their eyes again.

"Well, the good news is that we are alive," she said. "And the bad news is that this is kind of an uncomfortable moment right now."

"It was completely comfortable on my end. Just saying," he replied. They were both still breathing heavily, Sarah feeling uncomfortable because right now all she wanted to do was tie Chuck to her bed and do unspeakable, horrible things to him, but she had to hold herself back – for the moment.

Later, she took him to her room. In the morning Chuck was surprised he could still walk. After clocking in at the Buy More, he went to tell Lou that things were again good between him and Sarah and thank her for her support during the rough patch he and his girlfriend had been through. Fortunately Morgan had been too busy starting his relationship with Anna to bring Ellie up to speed on Chuck's 'breakup' with Sarah. After talking to Lou, Chuck went and told Morgan that things were good again between him and Sarah.

Sarah and Casey were once again at the docks, the area secured by the tactical team. The bomb squad had given the all clear. It was definitely not a bomb. The timer had been for an oxygen supply. The two agents came closer as the capsule opened. They stood and stared wide eyed as they saw that it contained…

"It's Bryce!" Sarah gasped. It indeed was a very much alive Bryce Larkin lying in it, hooked to the now silent life support system.

"Didn't I kill him?" Casey was just as shocked.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** It's good to see that you think I managed to cope well with the Lou story arc in the previous chapter. I'll try my hand on Bryce's reappearance now. Hopefully, it's not too bad.

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs the Old Friend**

"Because I'm not a rogue spy; because the Intersect was a mission; because, Sarah, you are still in love with me," Bryce concluded his speech. He was in Chuck's bedroom, while the rest of the gang, that is Ellie, Awesome, Casey, Morgan and Anna were enjoying a nice Thanksgiving dinner. He had talked to Chuck while the latter was going to get the marshmallows he'd forgotten in his car and asked to see Sarah. Chuck had quietly tipped her off and now he was heading to his room to get some rafting brochures Captain Awesome wanted to give to Casey. He heard Bryce's last statement and saw him through the slightly open door pull her in for a kiss. He lowered his head and turned to leave when he heard what sounded like a really loud and very painful slap.

"Let me refresh your memory, Bryce," Chuck heard Sarah hiss angrily. "I, heavy emphasis on the 'I', broke up with you eight months ago! Just in case you forgot. By the way, I'm seeing someone else now."

Chuck returned to join the others at the table with a huge goofy grin on his face, which was still there when his turn came to say what he was thankful for.

"I am thankful that Bryce Larkin is dead and not currently in my bedroom getting slapped silly because he tried to make out with my new girlfriend," he said, looking straight in Casey's eyes. Casey had been enjoying needling him about Sarah's past relationship with Bryce all day long. Now, it was payback time.

"Excuse me," said Casey, "I'll be right back."

"Um, buddy, that was really dark," remarked Morgan.

"And specific," added Devon.

Meanwhile in Chuck's room, Bryce was still trying to convince Sarah to help him when he heard someone approaching and turned to leave.

"Bryce, don't run," she said. Turning around, she saw Casey enter, gun drawn. "Casey, everything's under control." Casey brushed past her and headed for the Morgan door which Bryce had just used to leave. In the meantime, Chuck realized that his cocky remark might lead to a shootout inside his place.

"I think I might have made a mistake," he said and hurriedly got up from the table. He got to his room in time to hear Casey chide Sarah about Bryce.

"Nice work, CIA," the NSA agent said angrily.

"Hey," Chuck said and closed the door, "no guns at Thanksgiving."

In the meantime, Anna had had enough with Morgan's fondness for Ellie's cooking and got up and left. Morgan was right behind her, trying to get her to see reason. They were too busy arguing to see Chuck and Sarah in the courtyard.

"He's gone, call it in from my place, I'll check the back," Casey told them after trying in vain to find Bryce.

"How did Casey find out?" Sarah asked.

"I made a rash decision," Chuck confessed.

"You saw Bryce kiss me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I also heard what happened next, and I couldn't resist taking a cheap shot at Casey after all the crap he'd been giving me today."

"Chuck… what were you thinking? You could have caused a lot of- mmmmm…"

"Better now?" Chuck asked, breaking the kiss. She looked at him in a way that indicated she wanted to be mad at him, but couldn't. Then, suddenly, Chuck saw the lights coming on in Casey's apartment.

"Sarah, why is someone in Casey's apartment?" She didn't reply immediately. Instead, she took off her shoes, shushed him and silently padded inside, drawing her gun when she saw Bryce trying to gain access to Casey's computer. He had a gun resting on the desk near him. Chuck involuntary gasped when he saw the guns and the slight sound was enough to alert Bryce to their presence. He whirled around and found himself in a standoff with Sarah.

"Stand down Bryce," she commanded.

"Sarah…" Chuck said.

"Close the door, Chuck," commanded Bryce.

"I'm closing the door and I'm walking into the apartment. Please do not shoot." He moved behind Sarah. He knew it wasn't the bravest thing to do, but it was the smartest. She was an agent, he wasn't. She had a gun and knew how to use it, he didn't. And she needed a clear shot without having to worry about him.

"I need you to listen to me," said Bryce.

"Just put it down."

The Intersect was a mission. I was recruited by an outfit called Fulcrum; special access group _inside_ the CIA."

"You are lying! We would know that," said Sarah.

"They knew who I was, my activation codes, my record. They wanted me to shed my Agency contacts and go deep. Only then did I realize it was an internal strike; to download and destroy the Intersect. Fulcrum had plans for its intel."

"How can I trust you, Bryce?"

"I didn't mean to hurt you Sarah. You were out of the game and I had no one to trust," Bryce said, lowering his gun.

"Why Chuck?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, _why Chuck?_"

"I needed a friend who wasn't a spy, who wouldn't know anything about Fulcrum, or the Intersect, or Sand Wall," Bryce said. At the mention of the last word, Chuck flashed.

"Sand Wall… Sand Wall… That was the name of the mission. Sarah, I think he's telling the truth."

"Why, did you flash?"

"Yeah…"

"I'm not rogue." This time Chuck and Sarah believed him. She lowered her weapon as well. At that precise moment, Casey entered and the first thing he saw was Bryce.

"CASEY, NO!" Chuck and Sarah yelled. Too late. The SIG was up in a flash and the next moment Bryce was skidding on the floor by the force of the bullet's impact. Sarah just stood frozen while Chuck passed out. Whether from being drugged earlier, from fear, from shock, from exhaustion or all the above he couldn't tell.

"Bryce… Bryce!" Sarah knelt next to him and ripped his shirt open. She and Chuck were relieved to see he was wearing body armor.

"Time to finish the job," Casey said and approached Bryce threateningly.

"Casey, no, Chuck flashed, Bryce isn't rogue," Sarah explained.

"You should aim for the head next time Casey," Bryce said as the others helped him up.

"I don't get it, Bryce," Chuck said. "How are you still alive?"

"I don't know how they did it, if that's what you're asking."

"You know why they did it?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, should I pop some popcorn, or beat the answer out of you?" Casey asked.

"No, thanks. I'll talk."

"Darn," Casey said with a smirk. Bryce then proceeded to explain that Fulcrum had kept him alive because they thought he was the Human Intersect. He also said that he needed to turn him over to the real CIA for debriefing. And the exchange had to go down in a public place with lots of people. Chuck had a solution for both problems: He would use the Intersect to check if the CIA pickup guys were legit and they could use the Buy More which would be full of people for the Black Friday sale as the location for the transfer.

Form then it was like the best laid plans, etc. The exchange went down smoothly enough, but then Fulcrum agents appeared. Fortunately Chuck managed to trigger an evacuation of the store, thus protecting the innocent civilians present. Bryce and Sarah escaped from Fulcrum's clutches and returned to the Buy More. When the gunfight and the fist fights were finally over, the only ones left standing were Sarah, Bryce, Casey, Chuck and Tommy Delgado, the Fulcrum agent who was now holding him hostage. Bryce and Sarah had their guns out and trained on Tommy. It was then when Bryce had an – admittedly – bright idea. He asked Chuck something in Klingon. Sarah, remembering the two talking in Klingon the previous day while in the CIA detention facility before Bryce had escaped, was now curious about what the two were planning now. Chuck looked nervous. He gulped and tensed as he answered in the affirmative; she could tell that much.

"Sorry Chuck," said Bryce and shot his best friend. Tommy was stunned enough for Casey to take advantage of it and subdue him. Sarah was horrified. For a fleeting second she wanted to empty the magazine of her gun into Bryce, or gut him like a fish with her knives.

"What did you say to him?"

"Ask him," was Bryce's cryptic reply.

"Hey, Chuck… Chuck," she said as she knelt beside him and ripped open his shirt. Chuck was wearing a vest. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Chuck, come on, wake up, come on!" He coughed and opened his eyes. He explained that Bryce had asked him if he had body armor on and he had said yes.

"That stings a little bit," he continued, after coughing some more. Sarah looked relieved, Bryce looked happy and even Casey was looking at him with grudging respect. "Seriously, that is not fair," he said, getting up on his feet, "to not tell someone how much a bulletproof vest still HURTS!" Bryce was helping him get the vest off, while Sarah was removing his shirt. The NSA cleaners arrived at that moment and took custody of the prisoners before starting to get the Buy More back to normal. Sarah took Chuck to the break room to get a shirt for him from his locker, one without a bullet hole. He put it on while heavily making out with her.

Later, Bryce emerged from the home theater room, where he'd been giving his report to Graham and Beckman. He told them that he had a new mission now: to go after Fulcrum alone, under the radar. Before leaving he told Sarah that they 'will always have Omaha'.

Back in Echo Park, Chuck knocked on Casey's door.

"What?"

"Uh, we have some turkey leftovers… actually we have a lot of turkey leftovers. I was wondering if I could interest you in some sandwiches…"

"Thanks, but I've work to do," Casey replied, holding up a bonsai tree he'd been busy trimming.

"Right… Right, OK then." As Casey started to close the door, Chuck remembered something else. "Hey, Casey, Casey, Casey!"

"Yeah?"

"Sorry… What did Bryce mean by 'Omaha'? Outside of it being some weird Casablanca reference?"

"Probably code, contact point of some sort."

"OK, why would Sarah need that?"

"Bryce's going deep, Chuck; no calls home, no messages out. If Sarah wants to join up with him, she has to do it now."

"Sarah's leaving?" The pain was obvious in Chuck's voice as he asked the question. It was, after all, a spy's dream assignment.

"Don't worry Chuck. If Sarah's gone, we'll get you a new girl," Casey said sarcastically and closed the door.

Chuck returned to his place, where Morgan was enjoying cold turkey sandwiches and beer. He was in no mood for talk. Sarah could be packing to leave him right now.

In fact, Sarah was back in her hotel room. She was feeling drained, physically and emotionally. And she was sore all over from the car crash Fulcrum agents had caused earlier and the ass kicking which followed. She needed to relax, so she drew herself a bubble bath, salts and all. She settled in the bathtub, allowing the warm water to envelop her body and then took a glass of wine and a comic book – the latter swiped from Chuck's room. As a final touch, she put on the ear buds for the iPod Shuffle Chuck had given her and turned the volume up. He had made the song selection and she really liked it. Thus she managed to tune the world out and enjoy some relaxation. In doing so, she didn't hear Bryce, who wanted a chance to talk her into joining him, call her on her room phone, and Chuck who was desperately waiting for her to answer her cell phone, wanting to get her to stay with him. What seemed like an eternity later, she got out of the tub, toweled off and changed into blue striped panties and a red top before putting on a sleep mask and plopping down on the bed. She went out like a light seconds later, falling into a deep, blissful sleep.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N:** Continued from the previous chapter, the Bryce crisis is resolved.

I decided to play with the story style a bit in this chapter too.

Enjoy!

* * *

_Don't worry; I hear there is a great selection of new handlers in this year's CIA Christmas catalog._

_John Casey_

**Chuck and Sarah vs the Counterfeiter**

While Chuck was agonizing over Sarah possibly leaving him, she was in her hotel room, still fast asleep.

09:29:58, 09:29:59, 09:30:00. The alarm clock started blaring, trying to get its owner to wake up. Sarah rolled on her back, taking the sleeping mask off. Her eyes opened into slits as she tried to adjust to the light. She was really annoyed. It was supposed to be her day off. No Wienerlicious, no Scooter, just the chance to sleep late and then spend time with Chuck. Her hand reached under the pillow to the knife she kept there. In one fluid move, she hurled it at the alarm clock, impaling it on the wall and, more importantly, silencing it for good. She then pulled the comforter over her head and went back to sleep.

Later, after Chuck had flashed on the counterfeit notes

"Where is Agent Walker?" Beckman asked.

"Agent Walker…" began Casey.

"Is currently suffering from a spastic colon, which acts up on her from time to time," Chuck lied. Casey just went along with it, covering for his partner.

"She has no history of that," said Graham suspiciously.

Chuck and Casey didn't know, but Sarah was right outside. She had hurried to get to the briefing when she noticed the text from Casey informing her of it.

"What the heck? I don't have a spastic colon," she muttered and opened the door.

"Perhaps we should reschedule until Agent Walker is feeling better," Beckman said. At that precise moment, Sarah entered.

"I'm fine, sorry I'm late, carry on," she said. The briefing was rather straightforward. They were to confirm if millionaire philanthropist Lon Kirk was indeed counterfeiting money. To get close to him they would have to attend a charity gala at a yacht club in the evening. Chuck and Sarah would pose as a couple. When their superiors signed off, Sarah turned to Chuck and punched him in the shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"Really Chuck? Me, with a spastic colon? Is that the best excuse you could come up with?"

"It was, at the moment. Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean? It's my job!"

"I thought that you would be with Bryce right now, on a spy's dream mission."

"Chuck," she said, her expression softening, "_you_ are my dream assignment."

"Really?"

"Yes, silly."

"But… But it would make sense if you went away with Bryce. Logically, it would be protecting me too, helping Bryce take Fulcrum's focus away from me."

"Chuck, do you remember the day before your birthday?"

"Yes. It was a very happy day for all of us."

"It was. In the evening of that day I called Graham and asked for my job back, on the condition I would be given an assignment here in LA. I could never leave you, not then, not now, not ever." Sarah had a big smile on her face as she concluded her little speech. It was enough for Chuck. He took her in his arms and kissed her.

"Ugh, get a room you two," said Casey.

"By the way, Sarah, why didn't you answer my calls yesterday?"

"You called me?"

"Only about a dozen times."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Chuck. I was taking a bubble bath, listening to the music selection you made for me. I only saw Casey's text when I woke up today. It's my day off, so I wanted to sleep late. But _someone_ decided to flash and ruin it all for us."

"Hey! If you want to blame someone, blame Big Mike! He sent me to supervise those idiots, Jeff and Lester on their install!"

"Okay, you are forgiven. We've still got time to kill until we have to go to the gala later. What do you suggest we do?"

"Whatever you want. I'm just glad you are here."

"Let's go to your place and I'll come up with something for us to do," she said.

Sarah's hotel room

Sarah had gone to her room to get ready for the gala. Chuck would pick her up from there. He made his way to her door and raised his hand to knock.

"It's open," she called from inside. He shook his head. Either she must have very sharp ears, or she has placed a motion sensor in the hallway outside. He made a mental note to ask her about it.

"Not a morning person I see," he commented, after seeing her alarm clock still impaled on the wall with her knife.

"Well, depends on the morning," she said, still applying her makeup in front of the bathroom mirror. "So, we're clear on everything? Eyes and ears on anything that can trigger a flash. Our cover is that we are a couple, you are Charles-"

"Carmichael, yeah, I got it. Should be pretty fun, right?"

"It's work; first we work, _then_ we play," she said with a foxy grin and adjusted his tie.

"It's okay, I got it."

"Okay," she said, still smiling. "Ready to go to work?"

The gala

Chuck and Sarah entered the yacht club arm in arm and proceeded to the gambling area.

"If you expect me to hit the tables tonight I'm going to need a no-interest spy loan or something like that. You'd be shocked what a government supercomputer pays these days," he said. She resisted the urge to laugh.

"The CIA staked us. You have a hundred," she said instead. Inside, she appreciated the humor. She saw him take a martini from the tray of a passing waiter. "Since when do you drink martinis?" Sarah asked, intrigued.

"Oh, oh I don't, no. Carmichael loves them," he replied. Once again she had to suppress a laugh. She was about to kiss him when she saw Kirk.

"There he is, let's go," she said.

In the morning, after Chuck lost a hundred grand on one spin

Chuck had been taking out the garbage when he saw Casey polish his car. He expressed his admiration for the excellent condition of the 1985 Ford Crown Victoria and Casey proceeded to mention some of its features, including the add-ons. He would regret doing that later. Chuck also asked about Sarah's mission on Kirk's boat. The reply was not comforting. She would have to get close to Kirk, by any means necessary. He didn't like the last part.

After the team was benched

"That was a bang-up job, Walker. I'm gonna give you one last chance to come clean. Did you or did you not compromise yourself and the Intersect?"

"Did you ever… just want to have a normal life? Have a family, children?" Sarah asked instead. She knew she hadn't slipped up when she was with Kirk. But she was getting tired of the game. Chuck had flashed, but he shouldn't have been at the marina in the first place; he was there only because he was worried about her. While on the mark's boat she'd felt dirty, like she'd been cheating on Chuck. She now hated doing seductions while on missions.

"The choice we made, to protect something bigger than ourselves is the right choice," Casey admonished. "Hard as that is for you to remember sometimes."

"To answer your question, no, I didn't compromise myself or Chuck."

At the Buy More Chuck was enjoying some Chinese take out and thinking about what had gone wrong. He had flashed. Sure, they had misinterpreted flashes before, especially when they lacked information on the big picture, like the flashes on Mei Ling Cho and Mason Whitney. But this time the flash was specific. The printing plates were inside an aid crate. But were all the crates accounted for? Were they all on Kirk's boat when Casey and his team had raided it? Damn, they should have checked first. His phone beeped. Morgan had sent him a photo of him, Anna and her parents on a boat. And… there were crates! Crates like the one he had flashed on. He enhanced and printed the photo and went to tell Casey. He repeated that they had been benched, so he went to Sarah at the Wienerlicious. She believed him when she heard his concern about his friends. She knew how important they were to him.

_I hate this assignment._

_John Casey_

Casey stared at the burning wreck of his prized Crown Vic, a look of shock and sorrow on his face. The look turned to rage every time he glanced at Chuck. He had to force himself to turn away, otherwise he'd be liable to wring the twerp's neck and then there'd be hell to pay. He wished he'd never told Chuck about the GPS tracking system he'd installed in the car.

At the Buy More holiday party later, Chuck and Sarah were having a great time. They danced, kissed under the mistletoe, and he gave her a new alarm clock to replace the one she'd skewered. Casey was watching them from a distance, inwardly cursing General Beckman, who said that Chuck would have to be terminated soon. The kid didn't deserve this fate.

The following morning

"Sarah, where are we going?" Chuck asked.

"It's a surprise, Chuck. You're gonna love it, trust me."

"Hey, that's the marina!"

"Yep. Kirk's yacht is to be taken to a federal impound yard and I volunteered to do it."

"You can steer a boat?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I can," she replied. "And you can help. After all, you installed the automated control system."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n Walker!"

When the boat was out of the marina, Sarah stripped off the sundress she'd been wearing, revealing her black gold-studded bikini.

"I'd bought this for us, but I hope you don't mind I had to wear it for the job," she said.

"Are you kidding? I love your spy bikini."

"Can you…" She didn't need to finish the question. Chuck had already grabbed the suntan lotion and he was rubbing it on her shoulders. "Thanks," she purred.

"I still feel bad about Casey though," he said. "He clearly loved his car. But I did give him a consolation present, so I think he won't kill me."

"What did you give him?" Sarah asked, curious.

"A little something I set aside before the cleaners came."

"The missile launcher?"

"It was not exactly a rocket launcher, but a Carl-Gustaf M3 84 mm recoilless rifle with a day/night scope."

"I guess he can appreciate it."

"Sarah, I'd expect you to be more sympathetic towards him right now."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, I mean, you would expect our support if instead of the Vic it had been your Porsche."

"Stop! Don't talk about my baby like that! Chuck, I love you, but I swear that if anything happens to my car because of you, I will hurt you."

"Does your car have a GPS tracking system?"

"No."

"Then it's safe."

"Good to know."

She stopped the boat outside the harbor, out of the way of maritime traffic and lowered the anchor.

"You know Chuck," she said, "the boat has to be delivered to the impound yard today, but it doesn't mean we have to do it right away."

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

"I don't know," she said, innocently but suggestively batting her eyelashes at him, "does a helpless wench have anything to fear, alone in the high seas with Captain Carmichael, the notorious pirate?" Chuck needed no further encouragement. He hoisted her on his shoulder and carried her kicking and giggling to the master stateroom below, grabbing a bottle of rum on the way.

"In that case me bonnie lass," he said, "I fully intend to claim my share of the swag right now, arrr!"


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Once again, thank you for your comments on the previous chapter and your support and encouragement for me to continue with this fic.

This chapter takes place after the Undercover Lover.

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs A Day Off**

Sarah woke up slowly. Her arm reached out to Chuck's side of the bed, but found only the still warm depression in the mattress where his body had been. Opening her eyes, she visually confirmed that he was not in the room with her. She pushed herself up to a sitting position, holding the sheets over her naked body and looked around the room. She was reaching for the clothing she had discarded the night before when she heard him at the open Morgan Door.

"Hi Chuck," she said, smiling brightly.

"Hey, you're awake."

"Come back to bed."

"I'll be with you in a minute," he said, but made no effort to enter the room. Rubbing the last vestiges of sleep from her eyes, she refocused them on him. He was brushing what looked like dirt, twigs and leaves off his T-shirt and sweatpants.

"Chuck, did you fall or something?"

"Uh, yeah, I kinda fell in the bush outside Casey's door."

"And how exactly did you manage to do that?"

"Casey lent a helping hand."

"He pushed you into the bush," she deduced.

"He did."

"Dare I ask why?"

"You've seen Casablanca, right?"

"I've been there once."

"I was talking about the movie."

"Oh. Sorry, I'm not fully awake yet. But yes, _we_ have seen the movie _together_ many times. Dare I remind you it's Ellie's favorite?"

"Right. Anyway, after he said goodbye to Ilsa, he told me that she's going back undercover on a new assignment."

"A spy's life, Chuck."

"Funny, that's exactly what he said."

"And?"

"And I told him not to worry, because he'll always have me and I'm not going anywhere and that I thought this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. He shoved me into the bush right after that."

"Typical Casey," she smirked.

"At least he got laid, unlike Humphrey Bogart in the movie. It ought to count for something, right?"

"I wouldn't expect any change in him, if I were you."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, now you are so not getting back in bed wearing these clothes. Take them off, now."

"Your wish is my command," he said and stripped down to his boxers before joining her in bed.

"Chuck?" Sarah said as she snuggled up to him.

"Yes?"

"Do you know why Ellie was so upset yesterday? I mean, she got really drunk and I had to leave Morgan with her to come to the hotel after you and Casey."

"She had a disagreement with Awesome about their joint anniversary gift."

"She told me it was about Devon, but she didn't say what exactly."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure Devon will find a way to defuse the situation. He loves Ellie and he'll do anything to make her happy. They always make up after every fight they have."

"This reminds me, I didn't yell at you yet about going in the hotel yesterday half-cocked with a drunken Casey without waiting for me. Do you have any idea how scared I was, watching you fall from that balcony? You were really lucky to end up in the pool."

"You were scared? Then what should I say? I was one of the people who fell, remember?"

"Next time, wait for me. I don't care how you do it, but if you pull a stunt like that again, I will not be responsible for my actions."

"You've got yourself a deal," he said and kissed her. They were still kissing when the door to his room flew open.

"Hey Chuck, I got good news," Morgan said before noticing that Chuck was not alone. "Oh, hi Sarah." Much to Chuck's surprise, her reaction was patently girly. She yelped and pulled the comforter tighter around her.

"Buddy, this is NOT a good time," Chuck said.

"So- sorry, Chuck. I just wanted to tell you that the Ellie situation has been resolved."

"OK, thanks Morgan. Now could you please get out?"

"Sure."

"Morgan, wait," said Sarah. "Before you go, tell us what happened with Ellie."

"Well, after you left me to watch over her last night, she fell asleep on the couch."

"I'm not surprised. She'd already polished off two bottles of wine," said Sarah.

"So I noticed, Sarah. I managed to get her to bed, but she didn't want to be alone and she begged me to stay, so I had to spend the night with her. Chuck, I swear, nothing happened between me and your sister."

"I know, little buddy," said Chuck.

"What do you mean 'you know'? The Captain too said he knew nothing happened. Why are you all underestimating me so consistently?"

"Buddy, we are not underestimating you. We just know my sister."

"What did Devon do to get things back to normal anyway?" Sarah asked.

"You see, she wanted a new TV for their anniversary. He wanted a washer and dryer. She had to go to the hospital, so she left the final selection to him."

"Let me guess; he got the washer and dryer, my sister saw it and felt ignored and they had a fight."

"That's exactly what happened. Only Devon got her the TV in the end, after realizing how selfish he'd been."

"So everything is back to normal. Thanks for the update, Morgan. You are dismissed," said Sarah.

"OK. I'll head out my Morgan door and leave you two lovebirds alone. I gotta go to work. Enjoy your day off."

"Oh, we will," she said. "And thank you for staying with her."

"Where were we, before the bearded one interrupted us?" Chuck asked after Morgan had left. Instead of giving a verbal reply she kissed him. He then started nibbling on a particularly sensitive spot on her neck.

"Don't stop," she whimpered when he broke contact to shift to a more comfortable position.

"Relax, the day is all ours, unless Sugar Bear interrupts us for a mission. I'd really hate for that to happen though."

"Who?"

"Casey."

"What did you just call him?"

"Sugar Bear; it's Ilsa's pet name for him."

"I can understand the 'bear' part, but 'sugar' too?" She was laughing now.

"You should have seen his reaction when I first mentioned it, before you told me she was believed dead and before he found out that she's still alive and well."

"You told me that he almost ripped your head off."

"Apparently even Casey is not immune to lady feelings."

"Don't let him hear you say that."

"Hey, if he bothers us too much, we can threaten to email the picture of him cuffed to Carina's bed to General Beckman!"

"We'll need to find a good caption for it."

"How about 'Sugar Bear in captivity'?" Chuck said, eliciting another laughing fit from Sarah.

"Lucky for you I have a surveillance jammer on right now."

"Enough talking about Casey. We have our own business to attend to."

"What do you have in mind, Mr. Bartowski?"

"We can snooze for a while and then go out and spend the day doing fun stuff."

"Yes on the snoozing, but I strenuously object to the other part of your plan. You may flash out there and our day will be ruined."

"What do you suggest then?"

"We snooze, then I will make us some breakfast-"

"Objection! You are a terrible cook."

"Ellie thinks I'm improving with practice, so your objection is overruled."

"Fine. Continue."

"I think we can watch one of your nerdy sci-fi movies or series together."

"You really want that?"

"Why not? I think it'll be fun. After all, I like reading some of your comic books. I have even borrowed some."

"Aha! You have my missing comic books! I have to apologize to Ellie, all this time I'd been thinking that she was responsible for their disappearance and-"

"Chuck, you're babbling again," she interrupted. "You are wasting valuable time." To his credit, he shut up immediately and pulled her closer after setting the alarm clock to give them a couple of extra hours of rest. They were both asleep a few minutes later.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:** Seeing how much you guys liked the previous chapter (thanks for your reviews and comments, you're all Awesome) , I'll grant your wish for a speedy update.

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_Had a feeling that girl was dirty._

_John Casey_

**Chuck and Sarah vs the Engage****ment Ring**

"Won't this thing go any faster?" Chuck was for the first time cursing the fact that the Herder was built for economy and maneuverability in the city and not speed.

"Chuck, you've already redlined it! Slow down, we don't want to get stopped by the police!"

"What if we get stopped? Just show them your CIA badge and it'll be over in a sec."

"You know, it's preferable that we remain inconspicuous."

"I have more pressing concerns right now, Sarah."

"Just don't get us killed. I wish you'd let me drive."

"Really? Dare I remind you what happened the last time you drove a Herder?" Chuck asked snidely.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Chuck," replied Sarah, properly rebuked. She crossed her arms and looked straight ahead. Her phone rang and she answered it. "Hello," she said. "Yes, Scooter, it's me… No, I can't come in now… Put me on the late shift… Chuck has a family emergency and I'm helping him… Yes, it's more important than the damn corndogs! He did give up the chance to get a managerial position in order to help me once, so it's only fair that I return the favor. I owe him! …Scooter, if you continue being such an ass, you'll find your wiener among the revolving Wieners when I get there… no, I'm most definitely not kidding! See you later!" She hung up. "Someday I'm gonna kill Scooter," she said, more to herself than to Chuck.

A few minutes earlier

Chuck and Sarah were in a dumpster, frantically looking for Awesome's great-grandmother's ring. It was the same dumpster Sarah and Lizzie, the Fulcrum agent, had fallen in from the rooftop as they struggled for possession (literally) of Chuck.

"Oh, oh, oh! Ladies' feminine products, that's not good, that's not good," exclaimed Chuck as he dug through the trash. "Are you sure Lizzie didn't have the ring on her?'

"When they took her away all she had was the receiver," replied Sarah, looking at various items of garbage she was sorting through in disgust.

"Well, it's got to be here somewhere!"

"You know, Chuck, if we can't find it, we can just replace it."

"Look, look, look, it was Awesome's great-granny's ring and it's gonna be my sister's, okay? Even if it's covered in coffee grounds and miscellaneous DNA," was Chuck's disarming reply. She understood and regretted making that comment. Sometimes the agent in her surfaced in the most inopportune times. Now she needed to just be Sarah, the loving girlfriend helping her man find the ring. She almost wanted to bite her tongue off, but then again, she used that very tongue to do very naughty and pleasurable things to Chuck.

"Hah! Hey, ha-ha-ha! I FOUND IT!" Chuck shouted exuberantly. She still couldn't shake the expression of disgust from her face, but now it was mixed with relief. "Let's go!" He took her by the hand and led her to the Herder.

-O-

By some miracle they arrived in Echo Park in one piece. He hurriedly entered his room through the Morgan Door and wiped the ring for one last time with his tie. It wasn't really necessary, as he had made a stop on the way home and purchased a can of disinfectant spray, a good half of which went on the ring. Going to the living room, he found Devon sitting on the couch, with a sleeping Ellie resting her head on his lap. Devon silently asked what had happened and Chuck was so late with the ring.

"I'm so sorry. It might be a little dirty," said a breathless Chuck apologetically and tossed him the ring.

"Way to go Chuck. Always knew you could handle my family jewels. So to speak." Devon then pondered on a way to wake Ellie up.

"Uh, when she's sleeping really hard like that, sometimes if you pinch her nose she'll wake…" Chuck advised. "Right, I'm gonna… OK." He went out into the courtyard. Sarah was there leaning against the wall, waiting for him. She desperately wanted a shower – and the extras that came with Chuck sharing the stall with her. After the scare they'd gone through, she needed a release and she knew he needed one too.

"Mission accomplished," he told her and her smile grew bigger.

"I can't believe we pulled it off."

"That will make one hell of a story at their wedding," he said. "Which I'm never allowed to talk about under fear of death," he amended when he saw the look she gave him. "Understood, I have other material."

"You wanna?" Sarah asked, motioning towards the living room window.

"What, spy? You?" But he followed her anyway, in time to see the happy couple inside embracing. Ellie had obviously said yes. They both smiled. "She looks so happy," said Chuck quietly, almost reverently.

"Yeah, she does."

"I couldn't leave them yet."

"You don't have to worry about that. You're safe."

"Yeah, safe for now though. Right, I mean they keep getting closer. Eventually they're gonna figure out who I am…"

"Don't you want to go in there and congratulate Ellie?" Sarah asked, changing the subject.

"You want to come in with me?"

"No, it's a family time."

"I know," he replied. He needed to make her realize that she'd become part of the family. She kept watching as he went in and was enthusiastically greeted by Devon and Ellie. She felt Casey coming up behind her. He looked at the scene inside too.

"We can only keep him here for so long," he said. "You realize that, don't you?"

"We'll keep him here, Casey," she said, feeling her eyes mist over. "We have to." The only answer she got was a sympathetic grunt before he turned and went back to his apartment.

Inside, Ellie was still enjoying the engagement with Devon and Chuck when she noticed that someone was missing.

"Chuck, where is Sarah? I bet she'll be thrilled."

"Actually Ellie, she's right outside."

"Didn't you invite her in?"

"I did."

"Chuck! Bring Sarah in here. Now!"

He immediately went outside. He realized what she'd been thinking. He knew she couldn't mask her emotions, not from him. He took her in his arms and gave her a slow tender kiss.

"Let's get inside," he said. "Ellie wants to see you." Not willing to give her the chance to get away, he looped an arm around her waist and pulled her into the apartment, easily overcoming her token resistance.

"Sarah!" Ellie boomed happily.

"Congratulations Ellie," Sarah said. "You too Devon!" The recently engaged couple took turns hugging her.

"What's that smell?" Ellie asked, wrinkling her nose. The stench from the dumpster was more noticeable on Sarah.

"Oh, that… well, sis, we kinda had to dig into a dumpster to find your ring."

"What? What happened? Chuck, this is not awesome," Devon said.

"And Sarah, what happened to you?" Ellie asked, noticing the bruise on Sarah's temple.

"Ellie, the ring somehow ended up in the dumpster behind the Wienerlicious. When we realized what had happened, we tripped over each other when we ran to find it," said Chuck.

"And I banged my head on a door," Sarah finished the lie.

"Let me take a look at it."

"Ellie, it's really not necessary."

"Bro, are you telling me the ring I gave you for safekeeping ended up in the trash?"

"Don't worry, Devon, Chuck sprayed half a can of disinfectant on it," said Sarah.

"I've seen that ring before," interrupted a frowning Ellie.

"You have?"

"Yes, Devon... I think… That's it! Morgan showed it to me! He'd found it in Chuck's stuff and he thought he was going to propose to Sarah!"

"Yeah, he told me he'd found it."

"He was upset that you didn't include him and me in that life decision. So was I, little brother. But I was also happy for you two."

"But you know the truth now, sis. The ring was for you. And allow me to once again congratulate you and wish you both a happy life together. "

"I want to know one more thing," said Ellie.

"What?"

"When are you going to propose to Sarah?"

"WHAT?" Chuck and Sarah exclaimed together.

"I want Sarah to be my sister," Ellie said innocently.

"Aren't you jumping the gun a bit here, Ellie?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, I mean you and Devon… you have been together for years before this day," added Chuck.

"Sorry, I don't mean to push you two so hard. Take your time." _Until he inevitably pops the question and she inevitably says yes_, Ellie thought.

Eventually Chuck and Sarah managed to escape Ellie's clutches and retreated to his room.

"I need a shower real bad," he said.

"Me too," she agreed. "I have an idea! Let's take a shower together!"

"Agreed! By the way, should I ask Ellie to give you a change of clothes?"

"Not necessary, I have a couple of changes in your closet."

"You do?"

"I _am_ your girlfriend, aren't I?"

"That you are." He pulled her in for a very fierce kiss.

"Wow," she said when they came up for air.

"Yeah. Boy, I was really scared when you and Lizzie tumbled off the edge of the helipad."

"Unfortunately there was no pool and we landed in the dumpster. Some people, _you_ for instance, have all the fun."

"Hey, I fell into a pool tied together with Casey! That was no fun, I assure you."

"You'd rather fall into a pool tied together with me?"

"Not just a pool; anywhere, but only with you Sarah."

"Duly noted, but let's keep dumpsters and other disgusting places off of the list, okay?"

"I couldn't agree more."

"Oh, and what will happen with the whole Buy More 'robbery' situation?"

"We found all the bugs. We've got the receiver too, so the other agents will have returned everything to the store by now."

"Including Norman?"

"Chuck, who's Norman?"

"Big Mike's marlin."

"That too."

"One more thing; were you really going to shoot me if Detective Conway, Longshore that is, hadn't interrupted when I was trying to get you out of the freezer?"

"Not really, but I was freezing my ass off in there. Now, what about that shower, Chuck?"

It turned out to be a really, really long shower.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** Season 2 of this AU fic begins with a longer than usual chapter. The original had many Chuck/Sarah moments, so I only had to make some changes to ensure compatibility with the story. By the way, I stand by my wake up song selection over the episode's "Hip to Be Square".

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Cipher**

"Enjoy the rest of your life Chuck." Director Graham's words had a very noticeable effect on Chuck. A huge grin split his face. It was still there when he exited Casey's apartment, moving mechanically, like an automaton, his mind racing at a million miles per hour. He had completed his last mission. It had been the last time he had risked his life. He was finally free. Free to go ahead with something better than the Buy More. Free to enjoy life with Sarah by his side. Something he planned on doing to the full. For her part, Sarah's step had a noticeable bounce in it as she followed him to the courtyard. She was also happy. Now they could just be Chuck and Sarah without too much spy stuff, except for Sarah's work, which they'd try to keep out of their relationship, getting in between them; she would still, after all, have to work for the CIA.

"Are you okay Chuck?" Sarah asked after noticing that he was still in a trance of some sort.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm… I'm… uh, I don't believe it, but I think I'm great!"

"You're gonna get your old life back."

"Yeah, I was starting to think you and Casey would be my spy protectors forever, or whatever the adult version of forever is," he said. She understood the meaning. The very mention of the professional connection was enough. He was happy that he would henceforth have to interact exclusively with Sarah the girl and not Agent Walker, as he did when on missions.

"Don't tell me you're gonna miss all of this," she teased.

"No, no, of course not. I don't think I'm cut out for a job where you disarm a bomb, steal a diamond and jump off a building."

"Well, you could have fooled me."

"That's pretty kind of you to say, but I'm sure my girlish screams in the face of danger give me away," he said. She smiled, trying to indicate that she appreciated the humorous comment he'd just made at his own expense. Inside, she was not pleased to see him belittle himself so much.

"So, what happens now? You're almost free, what are you going to do next?"

"Well, you know… I got the Buy More…" Another unsatisfactory answer. He really needed some motivation.

"Chuck, can I tell you something?"

"Of course."

"You can do anything; I've seen you in action, and I'm not just talking about the bomb defusing or the diamond stealing," she said. "I mean, anything you wanted you could have," she added. _You have me_, she thought. They looked at each other smiling.

Meanwhile, General Beckman had contacted Casey to activate the termination order on Chuck. Casey had tried in vain to get her to change her mind, citing Chuck's excellent service record in the short time he'd been involved in espionage. After she signed off, he got out his favorite SIG Sauer and cocked it. The metallic sound was now ominous, heavy. "I used to like the sound of that," he said sadly. He hated the last task he'd been given. The Moron did not deserve the fate the powers that be had ordained for him.

The following day

06:59:58, 06:59:59, 07:00:00

I see you found my underground (Chuck opened his eyes)

Help yourself to guns and ammo _Casey would love that line_, he thought.

Nothing here has ever seen the light of day

I leave it in my head

It's the first day, of the rest of your life (Chuck started singing along)

It's the first day, of the rest of your life

Another wide grin appeared on his face as he reached over and instead of hitting the snooze button turned the volume way up. Next to him a fully awake Sarah, despite not being a morning person, smiled as she covered her body with a sheet and propped herself up on one elbow and watched him get out of bed swinging to the song's rhythm, picking out his Nerd Herd uniform and suddenly going wild dancing all over the room. She laughed as his antics got progressively wilder. He tried to get her up to dance, but she resisted. She didn't want Ellie to come in and find them dancing, not with her buck naked after last night's 'celebration' anyway.

She was still laughing as he headed, swinging to the music and humming, to the bathroom. He paused as he noticed condensation on the mirror above the sink and wiped it away. Thus he saw the reflection of Captain Awesome doing the same on the clear Plexiglas screen of the shower stall. And he was not alone in there. His sister was hiding behind her fiancé's muscular body.

"AAH!" Chuck screamed in horror.

"Ah!" Ellie's scream was more restrained, but she was no less embarrassed.

"Morning Chuck," said Devon lamely.

"My eyes, MY EYES! OH I'M BLIND, I'M BLIND!" Chuck yelled, covering his eyes with his hands, and fled towards the safety of his room. He almost collided with Sarah in the hallway. She had heard him scream and had hurried to get to him, gun in hand and still having only the sheet wrapped around her.

"Chuck! What's going on? Tell me," she whispered urgently.

"It's OK, sort of. Put that gun away," he whispered back.

Later, at the breakfast table, an awkward silence prevailed, until Sarah asked Devon why Chuck and Ellie were acting so embarrassed. The answer caused her to start laughing hard, until it brought tears to her eyes and she only stopped to breathe when she ran out of air.

At the Buy More, Morgan outlined his winning plan for the planned Call of Duty grudge match online against the Large Mart goons, which Chuck found good. Then he went to thank Casey for watching his back all the time. Afterwards he rejected Big Mike's offer for the AM position and was tasked with choosing the next assistant manager.

On his coffee break he went to visit Sarah at her new cover job. She had finally quit the Wienerlicious, beating Scooter who'd been about to fire her to the punch. She now worked at a frozen yogurt shop called the Orange Orange. And she looked stunning in her orange tank top, white Capri pants and cute little apron. He entered the shop and went straight to her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied.

"So, if I'm going to be completely honest…"

"Yeah…"

"I miss the Wienerlicious. I mean the Bavarian charm, the toxic nacho cheese that you guys had…"

"My clothes smelled like sausage…"

"Nostalgia completely gone."

"Oh, I don't know… You helping me wash the smell off in the shower… it was very pleasant." That was said for the benefit of a pack of lovestruck teenagers who had previously been regularly patronizing the hot dog place. "So, what's up?"

"Do you want to go out to dinner with me tonight? I mean a dinner date without spy gear, aliases and a mission. We need to celebrate you-know-what."

"You mean a real-real date as opposed to our many cover-real dates?"

"Yup."

"Okay."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Tonight. Our first completely non-mission dinner date."

"Or our first no-more-spying-for-Chuck date."

"No gunfire, I promise."

"Okay."

"OK."

In the evening three people were getting ready; Chuck and Sarah to go out on their date, the latter having bought a new dress, a purple one, for the occasion and looking forward to having her boyfriend slowly peel it off of her. Casey was waiting for the NSA courier who would take the Cipher, the last piece of the Beta Intersect, to DC. To pass the time, he screwed a suppressor to his gun and indulged in some target practice on his fireplace shooting gallery. He missed only one shot: the shot on Chuck's picture. He realized that he could not complete his orders to eliminate his former asset.

"Hey, date tonight?" Ellie asked her brother.

"Yeah, yeah, we're gonna grab some Chinese food and then maybe hit the Echo after that."

"Do you hear that, Devon? Do you recognize the sound of a proper date when you hear it?" Ellie teasingly asked her fiancé, who was sprawled on the couch still in his blue scrubs, exhausted after a busy shift at the hospital His response was mumbled, but still caused the siblings to smile. Ellie grabbed the opportunity to ask Chuck about his plans for the future. He in turn enjoyed pulling her leg, but confessed that his plans certainly did not include the Buy More. Chuck then went to pick up Sarah for their date. She resisted the temptation to take her gun; it was not a mission, after all.

"Wow, this food is good. How did you hear about this place, anyway?"

"Morgan, as a matter of fact; the man has a black belt in dumplings. I trust any recommendation he gives me for food items less than ten dollars."

"So our celebratory dinner date is a Morgan recommendation?"

"Wow, no faith in the little bearded man… Okay, I think you should know he has always been supportive of our relationship. And he's not found it remotely unbelievable that a guy like me is dating, um… you know."

"What?" Sarah asked innocently.

"Uh, you know, _you_."

"What about me?" She was clearly playing with him. It was obvious by the way she was looking at him while enjoying her noodles. He laughed nervously.

"You're really gonna make me say it, are you? Wow, OK, fine, we'll play it your way: A girl like you. Or, more appropriately, a woman like you, considering the fact that you could probably kick the ass of everyone in this joint; and a smart one at that, not to mention cool and extremely beautiful… and you can stop me any time with the compliments, if they're coming, y' know…"

"No, that was very sweet," she said sincerely.

"Sweet? Gee, thanks for making me feel like I'm eight," he said and she laughed.

"You are not so bad yourself."

"Please, I'm fantastic," he said, self-sarcastically.

"Yeah; you are." They shared one of the loving looks they had become so fond of.

"What would Casey think if he knew we're doing this right now and what we're going to do later?"

"It'd probably kill him," she joked.

It was a bad joke, because the courier who'd come for the Cipher was not NSA at all, but one of the group that had stolen the item in the first place. In acquiring it back, he poisoned Casey with a toxin. The NSA agent managed to activate a decontamination shower and inject himself with atropine.

Back at the restaurant, the fortune cookies had arrived and Chuck jokingly asked Sarah if it would tell her about her new mission. She played with him a bit. He joked that her new assignment might still be him, as he still had all those secrets in her head. They leaned towards each other to kiss, but then Chuck flashed on the people around them. They were all baddies. Sarah confessed she had left her gun at her hotel room, as she didn't want to bring it along on their special date. In the end Casey saved them, by driving the Vic into the restaurant through the front window, getting punched in the face by the leader of the bad guys, a huge black man by the name of Mr. Colt. He then broke the news about the second theft of the cipher. It was ironic; Chuck's fate depended on a small piece of electronic equipment called the Cipher.

Sarah decided to stay and spend the night with Chuck to console him. She reassured him several times that they would get the Cipher back and he would be free from the spy world.

At the Buy More, Chuck busied himself with the AM selection process, but at one point he flashed on the imprint of Mr. Colt's ring on Casey's face and informed him of the gang's hideout. Casey and Sarah told Chuck to stay at work while they would lead a tactical team to retrieve the Cipher. As it turned out, it was a wild goose chase, and Chuck was lured to another location by a bogus call for Nerd Herd help. Using his wits and Morgan's Call of Duty battle plan, he distracted the mercenaries long enough to grab the Cipher and run.

As Colt was dangling him from a building for the second time in less than three days

"Freeze!" Sarah yelled, aiming her gun at Colt.

"You know what?" Colt told Chuck. "It ain't worth it." He dropped him from the roof.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Sarah screamed in horror. She didn't know it, but Casey was there to grab Chuck as he fell and send him to meet the tactical team.

"Your boyfriend's dead," Colt taunted Sarah. "Now, baby, what you gonna do?" Rage overcame her grief and she managed to defeat the huge man in hand to hand combat, despite having a hard time at it. Casey also appeared, but so did Colt's men. In the end, Chuck saved the day, by leading the tactical team to the roof. Colt could not help but admire 'Agent Carmichael' for his professionalism and acting skills.

After the debriefing, Graham and Beckman confirmed Casey's orders to kill Chuck. He tried again to get them to change their minds, saying that Chuck had served with honor.

"Major Casey," said Graham, "can you extract the secrets from Mr. Bartowski's head? Can you guarantee his safety from capture and torture?"

"No on the first, sir," Casey said before Graham had a chance to continue. "That's a job for the eggheads working on the Intersect Project. But yes on the second. His safety can be entrusted to Agent Walker, his girlfriend. I am aware that she had requested an assignment in the LA area even before the whole Intersect business came along, just to be close to Chuck. Who knows, maybe he'll help her as a part time analyst. I don't know about you, but I don't want to live a life on the run from a pissed off CIA assassin," he said. _Cause that's what is going to happen if we break her sex toy_, he thought. He was banking on Graham wanting to keep Sarah in the CIA and not including a valuable agent in the termination order as well.

"You've got a point there, Major," Graham conceded.

In the meantime, Chuck was preparing dinner for him and Sarah. Ellie had offered to help, but he told her to enjoy her night out with Devon. Casey sneaked into Chuck's place, ready to protect him in case Graham and Beckman sent other agents to kill the Human Intersect. The doorbell rang as Chuck was rehearsing a way to ask Sarah to take a vacation to Europe with him.

"Hi Sarah," he said when he answered the door.

"Chuck," she said. She was rather distressed and he noticed it.

"What is it?"

"We have to call off the date; the Intersect was destroyed."

"What? But the Cipher…"

"It was a Trojan Horse, a sabotaged device; the moment it came online it exploded."

"But that means…"

"You are still the only Intersect. I'm sorry." The only one not sorry was Casey. The news meant that the kill order on Chuck was automatically rescinded. He beat a quick retreat to his apartment to celebrate with a dinner of Hot Pockets, whiskey and Neil Diamond.

"Well, I guess there is a bright side to it," Chuck said, recovering from the shock and trying to cheer the teary eyed Sarah up.

"What?"

"We get to spend as much time together as we used to, both on and off work." The statement brought a smile to her face. "Now, come in," he continued. "I made my dad's specialty, chicken with balsamic glaze. Granted, the Hamburger Helper did all the heavy lifting, but I think it's edible."

"Ellie didn't help you?"

"She wanted to, but I sent her out to root for Awesome, who is trying to win a bet by eating seven pounds of shredded beef in one go."

"Seven pounds of shredded beef… and he's going to eat all that? So that's why he'd been eating just enough to keep going in the past few days."

"The man had been on a hunger strike," agreed Chuck.

The following morning, Devon, who had won the bet by the way, had a small problem with his laptop computer.

"Don't sweat it, Devon, I'll go get Chuck to fix it for you," Ellie said and marched to her brother's room. She threw the door open, to be greeted by the sight of a naked Sarah on top of an also naked Chuck (fortunately his man parts were hidden from view by her body) as she nibbled on his earlobe.

"AAAAH!" Ellie screamed.

"GAH!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Ellie?" Sarah asked, surprised by the sudden appearance of her boyfriend's sister.

"My eyes, MY EYES! OH I'M BLIND, I'M BLIND!" Ellie threw her hands up to cover her eyes and ran to her fiancé.

This time it was Devon who was laughing his ass off at the breakfast table.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** First of all, a most heartfelt thank you for your reviews, especially on the previous chapter. I sure hope you like this one too.

* * *

_Now, that's what I call a spy._

_Roan Montgomery_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Smooth Moves**

"… But until that day, know that no matter how bad your life gets, you get to go home to _that!_" Morgan said and discreetly withdrew. Chuck followed his friend's gaze and saw his Angel at the entrance looking for him. A dazzling smile graced her face when she spotted him and walked over to him. He closed his eyes and leaned in for a kiss. She obliged him with a chaste, but loving kiss.

"Is that a real kiss, or a cover kiss? 'Cause I'm confused right now," he teased her.

"It's a 'we have a national security emergency and I need to speak to you privately' kiss," she replied gamely.

"See, I knew I felt something," he said. Sarah grabbed his hand and started dragging him behind her towards the exit. "Who's your mama?" Chuck quipped.

Sarah took him to the Double O, which, surprisingly, was empty of customers.

"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't we blow off this whole national security thing and go down to Mexico for a couple of days? I'll get the daiquiris if the CIA picks up the plane tickets, coach is fine."

"Chuck, we can't just ditch the mission and go on vacation. It's unprofessional," Sarah said as she led him to the freezer.

"Didn't you say recently that you could use some time off?"

"I meant that I would like a vacation during a mission-free period. And right now we have some work to do."

"Wait a minute! Why are we in a freezer? All this to protect your toppings?" Chuck asked as Sarah entered a code on a keypad and stood still for a retina scan. A hidden door opened and he followed her through it to an underground chamber filled with computers, electronics and a lot more. "What the… Hell-O," he muttered when he saw the place. "This is new; what is this place?"

"The CIA decided to spring for new digs," said Casey, obviously satisfied with the setup. "Finally a first rate operation."

The following day

"Really? Maybe I picked the wrong agent. I'll get Agent Casey to kiss her," said Montgomery.

"You really want me to kiss her?" Chuck was horrified at the prospect of Casey kissing his girl, even if it was only for the job.

"Desperately," Montgomery said emphatically.

"Fine," said Chuck. He grabbed Sarah, pulled her close and planted the most amazing, the most breathtaking kiss he had ever given on her lips. She couldn't help but respond in kind.

"Bravo," said an impressed Montgomery. Sarah excused herself to go fix her lipstick. She was almost certain that the veteran agent and former seduction school instructor had picked up on the thing under the undercover thing she had with Chuck. In short, he had made them as a real couple.

After the successful conclusion of the mission

"Well, be sure to thank the CIA for me," Chuck said, seeing how happy his sister was when she found a romantic late lunch laid out at their place, which was covered with rose petals.

"Oh, a pleasure," said Sarah. "I suppose I should thank you for saving my life."

"You've done it for me a time or two. I'm probably still in debt."

"I have to admit, that was pretty impressive."

"The whole swinging like Tarzan thing? 'Me Tarzan, you Jane' or should I say 'me Chuck, you Sarah'? I mean, I know I'm just an asset, but between the two of us, have you ever seen anyone do something like that before?"

"I think it's safe to say, Chuck, that I've never seen anyone quite like you." They would have kissed right then and there, but for the appearance of Casey and Montgomery in the courtyard. The older man said his goodbyes to the team and left to go to DC, where he would meet an old flame – none other than Brigadier General Diane Beckman, USAF. Before that he gave Chuck some advice on how to surprise Sarah for a romantic evening. Casey went to arrange for the secure transport of the recovered Cipher and the prisoners, but first took Chuck aside for a word.

"Moron, the next time you and Walker go at it, remind her to turn her privacy device on first."

"Uh, what exactly do you mean, Casey?"

"I mean that when you and the Caught-In the-Act agent were caught in the act by your sister the other day, Ellie's scream made me look at the surveillance to make sure everything was OK", he said, using the old irreverent nickname for the CIA. "Do you have any idea how much brain bleach it took to make me forget what I saw? Or you can buy me a case of whiskey to have on hand for the next time you two forget about the camera in your room. By the way, I erased the recording."

"Duly noted, thanks Casey."

"*grunt* (I sure hope you'll remember)"

Chuck rejoined Sarah inside Casey's apartment.

"Is everything OK Chuck?"

"What? Oh yeah, everything's just peachy. Casey just told me to remind you to turn the jammer on the next time we… y' know."

"Huh?"

"Apparently, when Ellie walked in on us her scream was heard all the way over here and Casey activated the camera to see what was wrong."

"Oh," Sarah said, blushing.

"Don't worry, he told me he erased the offending file."

"God thing he did. If the new CIA director, whoever that will be, gets wind of it he might not be as understanding as Graham was."

"Yeah, sorry about Graham."

"Yeah, I only learned it the same morning you did."

"What are you doing there?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"As a matter of fact I am. What are we having?"

"The same as Awesome and Ellie; I picked up some extra from the CIA caterers," she said, omitting any mention of her involvement in the cooking process so as not to scare him away from the food. Truth be told, Ellie had taught her well.

"This is delicious," he said, after the first bite.

"Thank you," she said before she could stop herself. He caught on to her slip up in an instant.

"Are you thanking me on behalf of the CIA, or as the cook?"

"Both, I guess. I had really good help."

"Looks like you are a good student of my sister's."

"Ellie's a great teacher. Now shut up and eat."

"Did you bring any for Casey?"

"Yes, I did. I had a feeling he'd appreciate it. Of course, I didn't tell him I cooked it."

"I'll tell him later, after he compliments the CIA's catering service. I want him to know that my girl is awesome in the kitchen too now."

"Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you remember to do something about the banner at the Buy More? We need to cover our tracks as much as possible."

"Don't worry. Casey and I fixed it. All it took was some of our ubiquitous duct tape." He chuckled as he remembered that the 'Under New Assistant Management' banner now read 'New Ass Man' after being torn by Chuck using it to swing from the roof to save Sarah. Fitting, considering that the man who had won Morgan's AM selection contest was Lester Patel.

"You sure gave that bitch a good knock."

"You don't like her." It was a statement, not a question.

"How can I like her? She tried to kill you, then she tried to kill me and before all that you kissed her."

"Hey! She kissed me, okay? And it meant nothing. You don't have to be jealous. It was all for the job. But at that moment I understood what you had to do with Kirk at the marina."

"I am not jealous," she insisted, but relented when he gave her a knowing look. "Okay, maybe a little. I hope you didn't cop many feels with her."

"I knew it! Keep this in mind: I love you and only you. And any 'copping feels' I might have done was only to enable me to steal her Cipher pendant."

"That's good enough for me," she said and kissed him lightly.

"Careful. I don't think Casey will appreciate it if we defile his place."

"I don't want to end up on his hit list either," she laughed. "By the way, how did you escape her clutches?"

"That's the funny part; I locked her inside and tried to climb to the balcony of the room above, which was unfortunately occupied. The lady there took me for a pervert and kicked me down. Luckily, I fell on one of the couches at the outdoor bar area."

"Hrmph. It's the fourth time you fall without me."

"Third," he corrected. "Yesterday I just swung from the roof."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Change of subject; Roan and Beckman… can you believe it?"

"Why not? He does have a formidable reputation as a ladies' man, which is even in the Intersect."

"Yeah, but with Beckman? I mean, she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush!"

"People are always surprising."

"You can say that again. I was thinking, the next time she gets all bitchy with us, we can give Roan a call and use him as a distraction. He'll manage to calm her down."

"Good idea, Agent Carmichael. I like it when you think like a spy."

The rest of the meal passed with light hearted conversation. Once the dishes were cleared away, she went shopping. She'd set her sights on a very sexy – slutty might be a better word –lingerie set, which she planned on wearing later when she would say a proper thank you to Chuck for saving her life. In fact that set would make the purple number she'd worn on her first sleepover at Chuck's look almost like a burqa in comparison. _Maybe I should get a burqa from the CIA costume department and wear it with that lingerie underneath, or maybe with no underwear at all. I'd love to see his face when he sees me like that,_ she thought.

In the meantime Chuck was preparing his seduction of Sarah as per Roan's instructions. He did not have to rent a white dinner jacket. Awesome was glad to lend him his, so he only had to buy a red rose and a bottle of Château Margaux.

When everything was ready he drove to her hotel and knocked on her door.

"Chuck, hi," Sarah said when she opened the door. She was pleasantly surprised to see him. And he looked dapper in the dinner jacket, black t-shirt, black jeans and white All-Stars. The door opened further and a man appeared next to Sarah.

"Hello Chuck," he said.

"Bryce!"

"Missed me?"

"What are you doing here? Sarah, what's Bryce doing here?"

"He came to give us our new mission," she replied. Like Chuck, she had been looking forward to an evening together, until Bryce showed up and ruined their plans, but she was definitely impressed with Chuck's smooth moves.

"Come on in, Chuck," Bryce said, "we need to talk shop."

Chuck entered the room and the first thing he noticed was the mat and the sleeping bag neatly arranged on the floor. He was not pleased that Bryce would spend the night at Sarah's but at least she wouldn't let him in her bed.

"Bryce's cover is that he's family, specifically my cousin," she explained.

"Oh, OK, I see."

"We were about to order some pizza, Chuck. Nice of you to bring the wine, although I think it's too much for the food."

"That's no problem, we can get some beer instead," said Chuck.

"Just like college, huh?"

"Okay guys, I'll order the pizza. Bryce, you go for the beer. By the time you get back I'll have filled Chuck in on what you told me about the mission."

"I'll be right back," said Bryce and left.

"And I'm all ears," added Chuck.

"Now Chuck, this is what we have to do…"


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N:** This was one of the most difficult episodes to render within the context of the story. I just hope the result is good. There is some angst, but it's resolved with help from an unexpected source.

* * *

**Chuck and Sarah vs the Update**

The couple was absolutely dominating the dance floor. There was no other way to describe it. Every eye was on them. All other couples had stopped dancing and were watching in awe as a dashing young man clad in a tailored tuxedo and a devastatingly beautiful blonde in a revealing spaghetti strap dress put on a dance recital that was beyond compare.

"Any security behind you?" Bryce asked.

"No," replied Sarah.

"You're still a great dancer."

"You're a little rusty," she shot back.

"Just let me lead."

"No." She smiled. She was getting a kick out of making her dance partner uncomfortable like this.

Of course, the dance was a distraction, to do reconnaissance and simultaneously enable another member of the team to move around even more freely than his waiter attire allowed. Unfortunately, the person who was supposed to benefit from said distraction had also fallen for it. Chuck couldn't take his eyes off of Sarah. He'd said earlier that red was not his color. Right now he was thinking that he just might have to revise his attitude and add red to the list of his favorite colors, at least when Sarah was wearing it. He could hear their discussion through his earpiece and had to suppress a chuckle.

"Hey! Quit screwing around Bartowski! Get close to Von Hayes." Casey's gruff voice reminded him to focus again on the mission. He sighed. He would have definitely preferred to be in Bryce's place, on the dance floor with his best beloved, but, as the others had pointed out, he needed more freedom of movement to see if he would flash on anyone or anything, plus he was not yet ready as a dancer. The latter was especially true; Sarah had been giving him dancing lessons on their free time, but they had rarely been able to finish them, as they usually tended to abandon them in favor of… extracurricular activities.

Anyway, Chuck so far hadn't flashed and he stumbled and dropped the bottle of expensive wine he'd been carrying at the conclusion of Sarah's and Bryce's performance and got fired for it. He couldn't help it, although he knew that everything, the finale kiss included, had been just an act. She had told him in advance not to be fazed by anything he'd see her do with Bryce. It would only be for the job.

As it turned out, the mission was a bust. Von Hayes got away with the chip. The Fulcrum agent, whom Chuck had described as a psycho elven queen, also got away, after exchanging shots with Sarah. She'd also thrown a bomb, which Sarah had spotted at the last moment. She had shoved Chuck to safety, but had been unable to escape the blast shockwave herself. When Chuck saw her on the ground unconscious he freaked out. He knew she'd been injured in Afghanistan in a similar way and he hoped that she'd be all right.

The next day he visited her at the hospital. The cover story was that she'd been going up some stairs when one of her heels broke, causing her to lose balance and fall. She had a few scrapes, bumps and bruises plus a mild concussion.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey," she replied. She smiled brightly when she saw him.

"I brought you some gardenias."

"They are my favorite. How did you know? The first time, I mean?" She recalled that he had known they were her favorite flowers for some time now.

"I'm not an entirely incompetent spy, you know." He smiled again. "Ellie had told me. Before I picked you up for our first dinner together, remember?"

"You can put them over there."

He turned and saw that the place was full of flowers. "Bryce Larkin, huh? I guess at some things I'll always be coming second to that guy."

"Not always. You never come second. Not to Bryce, or anyone else as far as I'm concerned. Besides, I'm curious to see how Bryce will explain all this in his agency expense account." They both laughed heartily at her last comment.

"Ellie said you had a concussion."

"Oh, it's only a minor concussion, I'm fine. It's my ego that's hurt more than anything."

"I'm sorry; it's my fault. If I didn't get fired, none of this would have happened."

"Hey, don't apologize, okay? It's not your job to protect me."

"Well, all things being considered that's probably a good thing."

"You have a lot of good qualities, but I'm not sure bodyguard is one of them."

In the meantime, Devon was 'taking care' of Bryce, not knowing of course who he really was. He and Ellie believed he was just Sarah's ex. Their talk gave Bryce confirmation that Sarah's relationship with Chuck was not just a cover. He'd suspected that much since his first meeting with the team.

After the mission was over

"We need to talk about Sarah," Bryce told Chuck after another surprise entrance. "She had a chance to take the shot back there and she didn't. She hesitated and almost cost us the microchip and your life."

"I know."

"What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know, Bryce. You tell me. What am I supposed to do?"

"You'll do the right thing. You always do. That's why I sent you the Intersect in the first place." He turned to leave.

"Hey, Bryce, you forgot your glasses."

"You keep 'em. If you're gonna be a real spy you're gonna need them."

"I don't… I don't want to be a real spy," Chuck said, handing the glasses back to his friend.

"From what I've seen, it's a little too late for that, Chuck. I'm sure you hate me right now, but someday you'll realize I was looking out for you. I have been all along."

At the Castle Sarah was apologizing to Casey for letting her guard down and promised it would never happen again. She then went to see Chuck. She found him in the courtyard, sitting on the fountain, lost in thought.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he greeted her back.

"Everything OK?"

"Yeah… yeah, I just had a couple of things I wanted to talk to you about before dinner."

"Yeah, me too."

"Look," they said in unison and laughed.

Chuck insisted that he speak first. "Look, we both know how I feel about you, so I'm just gonna shoot straight. Sarah, you're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me. You're beautiful, you're smart, you laugh at all of my stupid jokes and you have this horrible habit of constantly saving my life." She laughed again at the last comment. "The truth is, you are everything I thought I ever wanted and more," he continued. The word 'thought' caused alarms to go off in her head. "For the past few days all I can think about is our future together. What it's gonna be like once I get the Intersect out of my head. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that you and I can never have a future together." It was killing him to say all this to her, but he had to. There was no other way. He had to do the right thing. "I fooled myself into thinking that we could. The truth is we can't. Because it's never gonna be completely real, our relationship. I'd still never know anything about you; your real name, your home town, your first love… anything."

She was tearing up as she realized he was breaking up with her, for real this time. "And I want more than that," he said, after steeling himself to continue. "I want to be able to call you at the end of a bad day and tell you about some funny thing that Morgan did, and not find out that I can't, because you're off somewhere in Paraguay, quelling a revolution with a fork. I'm a normal guy who wants a normal life. And, as amazing as you are, Sarah Walker, we both know that you will never be normal."

"You know, someday when the Intersect is out of your head and you have the life that you've always wanted, you'll forget all about me." She was trying to be brave, but she couldn't understand why he was doing that when it obviously hurt him as much as it hurt her.

"I seriously doubt that."

"Come on. We better get inside; they are waiting for us." She got up and went to the apartment door, pausing to blink back the tears and put her game face on.

After dinner, he escorted her to her car. Just as they were heading for the exit, Casey intercepted them.

"Walker, Moron, get inside, now," he commanded.

"What is it, Casey?" Sarah asked.

"Did we get a new mission?" Chuck added.

"No. Sit down, both of you." They obeyed and watched as Casey paced in front of them, waiting for him to continue. "I just watched tonight's surveillance feeds. And you may think I'm pleased that the most annoying romance in my life is apparently over."

"You are not?"

"Keep your trap shut and let me finish, Moron. Let's talk about your buddy Bryce for starters. As much as I don't like him, he's objectively a good agent. But he still thinks in a conventional agent way. Thus he believes the emotional attachment between you two lovebirds is a liability. He conveniently forgot that Walker's primary mission is the protection of the Intersect. Getting the chip back was his mission. We were only supposed to assist, not complete the job for him. Walker got hurt while doing her job, period. It is just a coincidence that she also happens to be boinking the asset."

"Hey! Don't talk about Sarah like that!"

"Shut up Bartowski. In addition, Larkin must have forgotten his field medicine training, or maybe the CIA's training is not that good to begin with. You are lucky Walker didn't take the shot, Moron. With the concussion she had, she would have probably hit you."

"What are you saying, Casey?" Sarah demanded.

"I'm saying that a concussion, mild or not, has the bad habit of impairing a person's hand-eye coordination. That's why you couldn't take the shot. I think you somehow knew that you couldn't aim properly. Otherwise you would have taken it. It was an easy enough shot."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier, Casey?"

"I needed your boyfriend to hear what I have to say too, Walker."

"What do you have to say to me, Casey?"

"I have to say that based on what you were told you tried to do the right thing, which is not the right thing, however."

"I don't follow."

"Bryce thought Walker's ability to perform as an agent was compromised by your relationship and he knew you'd do anything for her, even if it hurt you both."

"Hold on! Are you saying that Chuck broke up with me to…?"

"To help you act more professional, to keep you from getting hurt again physically. Personally, I think you both perform well and I don't want to jeopardize the mission by having you two moping over each other all the time. Now, you can kiss and make up," he said. Chuck and Sarah moved closer together. "I'd appreciate it if you did that out of my apartment," Casey added. They laughed and went out into the courtyard.

"Did you really think that you were doing the best thing for me, Chuck?"

"As much as it hurt, yes, I did. Besides, I'm not so sure I want normal any more, not when I have something even better. You." He took her in his arms and kissed her. "I'd never leave you willingly Sarah."

"I know that now."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

They went to his room holding hands and entered through the Morgan Door.

"Hey, Bryce left you something," she said, noticing a pair of sunglasses on the desk, with a note in Bryce's handwriting.

"For a real spy," Chuck read the note. He picked up the glasses and tried them on in front of the mirror. "Carmichael, Charles Carmichael," he said, mimicking Sean Connery and causing her to laugh again. Then, suddenly, the glasses did something; they performed a retinal scan on him, followed by the Intersect update. When it was over, he fell flat on his back. She was by his side in an instant.

"Chuck! Chuck, are you OK?"

"I hate Bryce Larkin."

"What happened? Your head is smoking!" Sarah said and helped him sit up.

"The Intersect update chip; he put it in the glasses," he replied, taking them off and showing her the self destructed chip. She took them and prepared to smash them. "No! I like those glasses and I'm keeping them."

"Oh. They do look good on you anyway."

"You know, he could have just told me. But it was typical Bryce. He used to pull pranks all the time back in Stanford."

"Forget about Bryce right now, Chuck. You broke up with me. I think I'll forgive you though, since we are back together again."

"Can I make it up to you, Sarah?"

"Oh, I'll come up with some suitable compensation for you to provide me with," she said slyly. He gulped hard when he realized what that meant.

"Just don't forget to turn the jammer on," he said.

"I've already taken care of it, Agent Carmichael," she said huskily.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** After the whole Bryce thing, it's time for some pure fun 'n' fluff.

Enjoy!

* * *

_All Jenny's boyfriend needs to know is that Jenny hates questions about her past. You got that?_

_Sarah Walker_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Cold**

Sarah was pounding away at the punching bag in her room. She needed an outlet for her frustration as the high school memories came flooding back. And she almost wanted to go to Washington and kill General Beckman, or at least inflict a lot of pain on her. Dinner with the Ratners had not been an enjoyable experience. Beckman's ironic comment when she'd protested that it was her real life, not a cover (well I hope _you_ enjoy Italian. Bon Appetito) still rang in her ears. She'd really wanted to fillet Heather at the restaurant, mission be damned. And she would have thoroughly enjoyed it too. She paused and looked at the picture of her and Chuck, his number two pencil still stuck in his image. She now regretted ruining the picture. She really liked it and made a mental note to ask Chuck for another copy to replace it. Resuming her workout, she threw some more kicks and punches at the bag. A knock on the door interrupted her. She sighed, ran an arm over her sweaty brow and went to answer the door. Chuck entered, taking in the sight of her clad in a sports bra and sweatpants, a film of sweat covering all areas of exposed skin. He thought she looked gorgeous as always.

"What?" She was still worked up from the recent events and hadn't blown nearly as much steam as she needed to in order to calm down.

"I brought you a present," he said, giving her the box he'd been carrying.

"Well, it's not my birthday," she said irritably.

"One down, three hundred and sixty four and a quarter possibilities to go," he commented sarcastically. But inside he really wanted to learn when her birthday was so that he could throw a proper party for her – with some help from Ellie. "Just open the box."

"What do I need a new dress for?" Sarah asked, pulling a beautiful purple dress from the box.

"I know you're going to see this as a glass half empty but I think it's a real opportunity-"

"Spill it!" Sarah brusquely cut him off in mid-rant.

"We have to go to your reunion," he said quickly, almost afraid of how she'd react. "Look, I know that you don't like talking about your past, much less revisiting it." She appreciated how understanding he was. "But the reunion is where the drop's going to be," he concluded, making it clear that it was only because of the job that they were forcing her again to do something she'd rather avoid.

"Look," she said, "I'm sorry. It's just… high school… was a tough time for me, okay?"

"Tell me about it! I get that, trying to figure out who you are and what you're going to do with the rest of your life, while constantly distracted with raging hormones," he said, trying desperately to make light of the whole situation, as he saw how distressed she was.

"It was more than that for me," she said cryptically but honestly, resting her head against the punching bag and keeping her eyes closed, fighting back tears.

"Hey, you'll be okay. Trust me," he said. She really appreciated having him there for her, even though she couldn't bring herself to tell him about her past and why she wanted to forget that time in her life.

-O-

Chuck thought he'd seen it all until he'd spotted Sarah's, or rather Jenny's old photo in the reunion. Talk about the duckling turning into a swan. A swan that was swimming in his lake, too, he thought happily. But Casey going undercover as a DJ? And enjoying late '90s music? Incredible! Now all he had to do was let the two agents take care of Dick Duffy. In the meantime he could goof around with fellow nerd Mark Ratner.

"Glad I'm not the one that has to tell Ratner about his wife's involvement in all this," Chuck quietly told Casey after the latter had taken care of Heather's goons.

"That's why love is for suckers," Casey replied.

"Yeah... Hey, have you seen Sarah anywhere?"

"Sucker," Casey snorted.

After a wet and bloodied Sarah had been crowned reunion queen

"Come on, Sarah, let's go get you cleaned up," Chuck said, taking her by the arm. He also noticed that she was barefoot. "Where are your shoes?"

"Uh, what?"

"Your shoes; where are they?"

"In the locker room."

"Stay here with Casey. I'll go get them for you." He was back with her shoes a couple of minutes later. As she put them back on, he turned to Casey. "What are we going to do with Heather and her friends?"

"The FBI will handle it from here. I called them and they are on the way. The local law will take care of Duffy and his Aladdin's cave of a trunk."

"Seriously, Casey, I don't understand why a small time lowlife like him was ever included in the Intersect. I mean, his connection to organized crime was slight, to say the least."

"You're right, Moron. We focused on the wrong guy at first. I'll pass your comments on. Maybe they can add a note that such small timers can lead to bigger fish in future versions of the Intersect."

"I'm ready, let's get out of here," said Sarah.

"Not so fast Sarah. Come with me." He took her to a restroom, where he wetted several paper towels and gently wiped the smeared makeup and blood off of her face. "Now that's better. You don't look like a scary spy Carrie any more."

"Chuck, who's Carrie?"

"A character in a book and a horror movie, who… Never mind. I'll explain later." He tried to dry her hair with more paper towels.

"I got it Chuck," she said and took over.

"OK. We better get you out of that wet dress too. I don't want you to go down with a cold."

"Me, catching a cold?" Sarah snorted. "Never happen."

"Still, you can't possibly be comfortable in wet clothes."

"I don't have anything to change into, Chuck."

"I brought a spare shirt along, just in case. You can wear that."

"And I think you have forgotten a pair of pants in the Vic's trunk, Walker."

"Oh. Okay then."

The three went to Casey's car and the men stood guard while Sarah changed in the back seat. She'd thought that she would have to go commando, but fortunately Chuck had a pair of boxers in his bag. She removed her soaked dress and then her underwear, shivering slightly in the cool night. Drying herself as best as she could with more paper towels, she quickly slipped into Chuck's clothes and then pulled her form fitting black mission pants on. As a final touch, she wrung the water out of the dress before folding it and placing it in Chuck's bag.

"Ready," she called. Chuck and Casey got into the Vic. As Casey started the engine, Chuck draped his suit jacket over her shoulders. She gratefully nodded her thanks. During the drive back to Burbank from San Diego fatigue, both physical and mental, finally overcame her and she fell asleep in the back seat. Chuck gently woke her up when they arrived at her hotel and escorted her to her room.

"Thanks Chuck," she said. "Give me a moment to change and I'll give you your stuff back."

"Okay," he said. Soon she was in her pajamas. Chuck took the bag from her and kissed her goodnight. "See you tomorrow Sarah," he promised.

"Goodnight Chuck."

The following day Chuck had a lot of work at the Buy More. As Morgan informed him, the idea he'd given them for a kegger worked and the store had made up for the deficit which resulted from Lester's friendly negotiation sales policy. And they were again without an assistant manager, as Lester had quit the position, resuming his Nerd Herd duties. He hadn't seen Sarah all day, as he'd been busy and she'd had a lot to do, both at the Orange Orange and downstairs at Castle. Luckily they both managed to get off work early, so he went to her place to see her. They sat down together by the window and handed her something from the bag he'd brought.

"Isn't that supposed to be a raw steak?" Sarah asked as she took the frozen hamburger patty and placed it on the bruise on her cheek.

"Not on a Buy More salary, thank you very much. I did, however, scrape together enough cash to get you a cooked one as well. Medium rare with…"

"Extra pickles," they said in unison.

"Come on. Who do you think you're dealing with here?"

"Well, I never doubted you, Special Agent Charles Carmichael."

"I guess the big secret about you is that you used to be just a typical high school student," said Chuck. "I wish I knew what happened to change that." Sarah's mind wandered to the day Graham recruited her into the CIA. Chuck noticed her zoning out and decided to bring her back to the present. "Sarah Walker? Hello?"

"Fine, I'll answer one question about my past. You earned that much," Sarah said. In reality, she was rather apprehensive about what he was going to ask her. She was afraid it was going to be a very personal question and she wasn't yet ready to answer questions like that. The thoughtful look on his face as he appeared to be sorting out the questions he had for her, trying to pick one out, didn't exactly help.

"No, thanks," he said finally with surprising conviction. "I don't need to know, not about who you were. As much as you don't think so, I know who you are… A girl I'd like to share a cheeseburger with." He smiled warmly. She smiled back, inwardly relieved that he didn't put her in a difficult situation and she was grateful for it. The look in his eyes told her that he'd wait until she was ready to volunteer the information about herself. He wouldn't push her. It was another reason why she loved him so much. He broke the somewhat awkward silence with a question. "Should I get a knife? I'll get a knife."

"That won't be necessary," she said. Rolling up a pant leg, she gave him one of the knives she kept in an ankle sheath.

"That's awesome! And a little disturbing," he said. She knew he didn't mean the disturbing part, but it did have the desired effect on her; she laughed. "This is gonna be messy," he said as he prepared to cut the hamburger in two. "You want a big half or a small half?"

"Definitely a big half," she replied, leaning closer to him. It was after all just as she liked it and she was damned if she didn't enjoy as much of it as she possibly could. He deftly cut the burger, wiped the knife clean on a napkin and handed it back to her.

They ate their halves of the burger in silence. When they finished, they cuddled together by the window, enjoying the view.

"I brought you something else too," he said.

"What is it?" Sarah asked, curious.

"I thought that you might want to replace the photo of us you destroyed the other day. Honestly, I was amazed to see what you can do with just a pencil. And I was almost scared out of my wits too."

"Sorry about that. And thanks. I really like that picture." They were kissing when a knock on the door interrupted them.

"Who was it?" Chuck asked when she returned.

"Oh, it was just the guy from the dry cleaners. He brought me my dress back." She proceeded to hang said dress in her closet. "It's the first dress you got for me. I really love it. Luckily it wasn't damaged when I kicked Heather's ass."

"Come here," he said. Before she could take two steps in his direction she sneezed loudly. "Bless you," he quipped, smiling.

"Thanks," she sniffed loudly, took a tissue and blew her nose.

"Sarah Walker is immune to the common cold, huh?"

"Shut up Chuck."

"I'd better call Ellie. She'll tell us exactly what to do."

"Just talk her out of coming here, if she gets that idea in her head. I don't want her to think I have an abusive boyfriend, which is unlikely, or think that I am an accident prone klutz."

"Or we could tell her the truth," Chuck said, laying a hand on Sarah's forehead and feeling for a temperature. "I think you are running a slight fever. Do you have a thermometer in here?"

"Never had a use for one. What do you mean by saying that we could tell Ellie the truth?"

Chuck didn't answer immediately. Instead, he picked Sarah up in his arms, carried her to the bed and gently laid her on it. Removing the knife sheath from her ankle, he tucked her in. "We can tell her that you had a catfight with a former classmate and that you won. We can invent a bet of some sort as an excuse, just to make it better."

"That's not a bad idea, come to think of it. At worst Ellie could think I was acting immature for a while."

"See? And your cover will still be intact. Now, I'll go get a thermometer, some Day Quil and some hot soup for you. Try and get some rest while I'm out."

"Thank you."

"Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Does the offer to answer one question about your past still stand?"

"Why?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Humor me. Please."

"OK, the offer still stands."

"The question is: what kind of car did you drive in high school?"

"That is your big question about my past?"

"Uh, yeah… You didn't expect that, did you?"

"I can safely say I didn't. Well, Chuck, I drove a yellow 1987 Volkswagen Rabbit convertible."

"Somehow it fits," he said smiling. She smiled back. Trust Chuck to find a way to make her feel good even about her past. "Be right back," he added. Sarah leaned back on the pillows and promptly fell asleep. She woke up only when Chuck sat down on the bed beside her. Opening her eyes she saw him looking lovingly at her.

"Soup time," he said simply. As she pushed herself up to a sitting position, she noticed some new things in her room. The photo she'd destroyed had been replaced, but now it was flanked by a metal model of a yellow 1987 Volkswagen Rabbit convertible and a model of her Porsche both in 1/24 scale.

"Chuck," she said, looking up at him, visibly moved by the simple gesture, "thank you."

"You are welcome. Now, eat your soup, take your medicine and I'll take your temperature. We need you back in top shape as soon as possible."

"I'd kiss you, but-"

"I've already been exposed to you." He brushed his lips lightly on hers. "I let Ellie know that I'll stay here with you tonight. If necessary, I'll also take as much time off from the Buy More as it takes for you to get well."

"You don't have to do that."

"No, but I want to."

They spent the rest of the day watching movies cuddled together. Chuck proved to be a very capable doctor for her too.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** The original episode had a lot of nice moments, both Chuck/Sarah and Sarah/Ellie wise. Thus it took very little effort to adapt to this AU. Added emphasis was placed on the characters' emotions.

Once again, a big THANK YOU for your encouragement and kind comments.

* * *

_You did it Chuck! It worked! How does it feel to be a hero, Mr. Bartowski?_

_Sarah Walker_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Diploma**

"You know I think it's time that you and I had a talk," Ellie said. Sarah knew what that talk would be about and dreaded it. Ellie wanted her help to push Chuck to move forward with his life. Sarah wished she could tell her boyfriend's sister the truth. That Bryce had masterminded Chuck's expulsion from Stanford to keep him out of the spy world, that his continued life as an underachiever working at a Buy More was now nothing more than a cover, that the planned evening of hanging out with 'Buy More creepy serial killer Jeff', as Ellie had described her brother's fellow Nerd Herder was just for the job. She wanted to tell Ellie about all the great things Chuck had done in the service of his country since he'd gotten the Intersect in his head, but she couldn't. She knew Chuck wasn't hearing the end of it for apparently not trying to move forward with his life. After all, she'd seen from the surveillance footage what had happened at Chuck's home earlier this morning. She felt that she had to do something to help Chuck with Ellie and Devon, but she didn't have a clue as to what that something would be – yet.

Thus it was with great trepidation that Sarah knocked on the door of Casa Bartowski in the evening. They sat down together in the living room. Ellie brought some wine and glasses and got straight to the point, which, as expected, was none other than Chuck.

"I'm starting to think that there's something going on with my brother," said Ellie.

"Oh," Sarah feigned surprise. Inside she was worried that Ellie might be getting suspicious. They couldn't afford to have her snooping around and accidentally run into their secret lives. She needed to find out what Ellie was thinking. So, she asked the natural question: "Why, what do you mean?"

"It's just… everything seemed to be moving on just fine for Chuck and you had everything to do with that."

"Oh, thanks, but I can't take the credit." She was completely honest about that. Yes, she was protecting Chuck and acting on the intel he was providing, but he was not content with the passive role of an asset and constantly pushed himself to help with the actual missions. And he was never staying in the car.

"I don't… I don't know," continued Ellie, "It's like… it's like he's slipping back into old Chuck mode. You know, no confidence, no direction; it's the Morgan Years… revisited. I mean, he went to Stanford, for god's sake. Did you know he's twelve credits short of graduating? Twelve credits short of a real life." While Ellie was talking, Sarah knew how pained her friend was. And she was hurting too. It tore her apart that Ellie couldn't know her little brother was a hero. "I know I sound like his mother. Just tell me that I don't have anything to worry about and I will lay off. Should I be worried about him?"

At that moment the first seeds of a plan were planted in Sarah's mind. She knew what she could do for Chuck. Something that would make him, his sister and his friends happy. But she would also need help, so she made a mental note to talk to Casey about it. Right now she had to do something to improve Chuck's standing with Ellie and steeled herself before speaking.

"You know, uh, Chuck is… Chuck is like a duck; sometimes it seems like he's just gliding along, but beneath the surface his, uh, his little feet are just paddling away like crazy," she said, giggling and making a paddling motion with her hands for added emphasis. She was hoping that the analogy was not a lame thing to say. And it was very close to the truth: to all appearances Chuck had a dead end job far below him, but in reality he was doing amazing things in secret. Right now she envied Casey. He had the easy part of the mission, providing overwatch while Chuck was trying to ascertain what an international terrorist wanted from Jeff. At least it made Ellie smile. "Deep down I really think Chuck is an incredibly mature and responsible guy." And she meant every word.

Of course, like always, Chuck had a lousy sense of timing, for he entered the apartment, carrying a passed out Jeff on his shoulder, whom he unceremoniously dumped on the couch. Jeff came to and made a stupid comment about Chuck taking the brunette (Ellie), while he'd take a crack at the blonde (Sarah) before passing out again and falling on the floor. All the others had greeted his statement with expressions of disgust. Sarah knew that her little speech had been in vain, in light of what had just happened. Now, more than ever, she needed to go forward with the plan she was formulating in her head.

In the end Chuck had again saved the day, becoming the undisputed Missile Command world champion in the process. After delivering the terrorists she had subdued at the television station to the cleaner team General Beckman had sent, she went to Castle to talk to Casey. Somewhat surprisingly, he had agreed wholeheartedly with her and called the General to make the request, which was granted immediately. Sarah was so happy that she almost hugged Casey right after they signed off with the General. They had one thing left to do. They made one phone call to someone they had met on a mission.

The crazy day over, Chuck returned home, hoping for a good rest. When he entered the apartment, he was greeted by an ecstatic Ellie.

"Oooooh, I'm so proud of you," she said and hugged him.

"Ha-ha-ha, hey, relax, it's just a video game. Granted I am the best Missile Commander in the world…"

"I'm not talking about a stupid video game, I'm talking about this," she said, handing him a World Send package. "Sarah told us what's inside." He recognized the company as the NSA's own courier service but he opened it anyway, curious about the contents.

"My diploma?" He was incredulous when he saw what it was. Sure enough, it was a Stanford diploma in electrical engineering, in his name.

"Don't act so surprised," Ellie said.

"You sly dog," Devon added, coming to him holding two bottles of beer, "Sarah also told us about what you've been doing behind our backs." Hearing that, Chuck snapped the diploma folder closed and looked up in alarm.

"She did? Really?" To say that he was confused would be a classic understatement. If for some curious reason Sarah had told Ellie and Devon the truth he wouldn't just be standing there now. Ellie would be skinning him alive while yelling at him for lying to her and risking his life all the time.

"Yeah," said Devon, "no wonder you've been such a mess this past year."

"Why didn't you tell us you were taking online courses?" Ellie asked. He mentally breathed a sigh of relief. Sarah had come up with a convincing cover story. It was still a lie, but right now he preferred it that way. He was too tired to face the consequences of telling the truth to Ellie and the Captain.

"Oh! Right… that…"

"You kids have some celebrating to do," Awesome said, handing him the beers. The leather bound folder of the diploma made for an excellent tray. "She's waiting out back." Finally he whispered: "You'll thank me for that ginseng shake in the morning." Frankly, Chuck's Wang energy was just fine without that abominably foul-tasting concoction.

"You really surprised me, Charles," Ellie said before she and her fiancé retired to their room. Chuck went out back where he found Sarah leaning on the low wall.

"Well, thanks for my fake diploma," he said.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked innocently.

"I get it; you know, you had one of your CIA pals doctor it up to get Ellie off my back."

"It's real, Chuck," she said smiling.

"Come on!"

"I'm serious, you graduated."

"What about my last twelve credits?"

"Well, Casey and I decided that your exceptional field service ought to count for something and Stanford agreed." In fact she and Casey had first talked to Professor Fleming, who needed no convincing in helping clear Chuck's name with Stanford. Beckman had added her clout and easily convinced the university's administration to issue the diploma.

"Huh. And by exceptional you mean like, I don't know, decrypting weapons satellite codes?"

"Electrical engineering," she said, taking the beer he offered her.

"Or running away from exploding games of Missile Command?"

"Physical education. You earned it, Chuck." They clinked bottles and drank, looking lovingly at each other.

"Thank you," he said. And he meant it.

"You see that star out there on the horizon?" Sarah asked, still smiling and pointed it out for him. "That's the Air Force bouncing Morimoto's satellite off the atmosphere and burning it up. Make a wish. It's yours."

Sarah knew exactly what wish Chuck was making. In fact she was making the same wish: That Chuck would soon be able to get the Intersect out of his head and enjoy life with Sarah to the full. On her part she decided that she would quit the CIA when that day came. She had done her part for her country. Today she had helped save more lives than most agents could hope to save during their entire careers. And then Chuck would be able to start his own software company as he'd always dreamed of doing. She would help him make his dream a reality by investing her savings in his company as part of the start-up capital. She had something to look forward to.

Chuck put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. She relaxed in his embrace and together they savored their beers in silence, enjoying the proximity and the warmth of each other's body.

Later, Chuck was reclining on his bed reading a comic book. He was a little disappointed that Sarah couldn't stay for the night and continue with their private celebration. A knock on the Morgan Door made him look up.

"Hi, I hear you are having a computer problem," Sarah said seductively. Chuck's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets at the sight of his wonderful, beautiful girlfriend casually but sexily leaning on the window frame clad in the stripper-like Nerd Herd outfit she'd worn earlier for the mission. He didn't know that after kissing him goodnight she'd let herself into Casey's apartment (who was away returning the ICBM launch control equipment) and changed into the skimpy uniform that could easily put Anna's to shame.

"Uh, yeah," he stammered. "I have a serious computer problem. I hope you know how to fix an Intersect," he said, finally deciding that two could play the game.

"For the Nerd Herd nothing is impossible, Mr. Bartowski," she said and entered the room stepping over the window sill. Suggestively swaying her hips she reached the foot of the bed and crawled on it towards him on all fours. Straddling his legs, she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back onto the pillows before leaning in and passionately kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her slim waist and pulled her to him. They didn't break the kiss as they started rolling on the bed, at one point almost falling off. Rolling back to a safe spot they started shedding their clothes. It was the best graduation celebration he could ever hope to have.

* * *

**P.S.:** You didn't think I wouldn't include Sarah's Nerd Herd outfit, did you? :D


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** Tampering with the Jill situation to make it fit in this AU would have been too difficult and time consuming, so I preferred to deal with the aftermath, giving it a humorous twist. There will be references to the actual episodes, but this chapter will be entirely about Chuck/Sarah stuff.

And thank you all for your wonderful reviews on the previous chapter(s).

* * *

_There is nothing about this job that's glamorous, or sexy_

_Chuck Bartowski_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the ****Funfair **

Later Chuck would freely admit that he'd gladly retract the statement. The spy business with Sarah Walker _was_ romantic, glamorous and sexy. Sarah for her part had secretly gloated over the incredulous look on Jill's face when the latter had seen her in her call girl disguise, which consisted of a very sexy red dress, matching lipstick, fishnet pantyhose, calf-high lace-up high heeled boots and lots of flashy jewelry. Even the diminutive Belgian .25 automatic she'd hidden in one of her boots did not detract the slightest from her sexiness. Chuck thought that it added to it. He told her that much while they were both on the Ferris wheel at the fun fair.

"Really?" Sarah asked.

"Oh yeah. It's one of the hottest outfits I've seen you in."

"I thought red isn't your color."

"It's not; at least when you are not wearing it. And that wink…Wow. I mean, come on, how could I forget the dress you wore at the art auction when we were after La Ciudad? Or the other dress at Von Hayes' party?"

"So what do you like me in?"

"Sarah, you'd make a burlap sack look like a creation by a top fashion house."

"You know, Chuck, for a Nerd you can really compliment a lady."

"Especially since that particular lady has full ownership of my heart."

"At least you didn't fake break up with me this time."

"Uh, that's because I took a page from you on how to handle the Jill situation."

"Meaning?"

"I wanted closure. And I also wanted Jill and me to stay friends," he said. "Before we discovered she was Fulcrum," he added. "Therefore I decided to be her handler of sorts on the mission, keep things professional."

"So nothing happened with her? Even when she covered the camera?"

"No. Ask Casey for the audio files if you don't believe me. We just took a trip down memory lane. But I could tell she was jealous of you, Sarah."

"I'll second that. The look on her face when she saw me dressed as an escort was priceless. And, by the way, I believe you."

"Thanks. Not to mention how she looked when she saw us coming out of the shower in our underwear."

"Yeah, about that… now I can confess that it took quite a bit of willpower not to have you take me right then and there."

"Uh, what?"

"Chuck, we thought we were possibly going to die. I didn't want to go out without one last thrill."

"I hate to disappoint you, Sarah, but I don't think I would have been able to function in that situation."

"Oh, you _would_ have functioned, trust me."

*meep*

"Chuck, are you all right? You look a bit pale," she continued.

"Just in case it has escaped your attention, I really don't like heights, especially considering what happened here yesterday with Jill."

"A wise man once said that to defeat fear one must embrace fear."

"Are you kidding me? You are quoting Morgan?"

"Uh-huh. It was one of the smartest things I have heard him say… if it's taken out of context."

"Right, because the fireworks thing was not really an appropriate proving ground for this adage."

"Ha-ha, no, it wasn't. I suppose I should thank you for saving my life again,"

"Honestly Sarah, I don't think Jill wanted to shoot you."

"Huh?"

"Remember, she believed I was an agent in training. That was the story I fed her. In the Buy More she was acting like a cornered animal; panicked and wanting to get out of there. At worst she would have winged you, like she did to Leader."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because I'm positive she wouldn't want a bent on vengeance Agent Carmichael on her case."

"Don't tell me you feel sorry for her."

"I do, in a way. You know, I'll have to talk to Bryce about Jill the next time we meet and apologize to him."

"Why?"

"She told me that she never slept with him. It was just an excuse to make me go away when Fulcrum ordered her to break up with me."

"And you believe her?"

"I do."

"OK, enough talking about the ghosts of girlfriends past. Change of subject; what was that thingy you used to copy the flash drive data anyway?"

"It was Morgan's Q36 game copier, which can bypass all forms of copy protection. Fortunately, as I told Casey, Morgan is too cheap and unethical to pay for his own video game entertainment. That gadget is Canada's greatest gift since Shania Twain. Which reminds me, I will have to return it to Morgan."

"I think Casey has already copied the contents to the Castle computers, so it will not be a problem. Now shut up, relax and enjoy the view."

"Did I mention that I'd feel a whole lot better if my feet were on solid ground?"

"You disappoint me, Agent Carmichael," she said teasingly.

"Agent Carmichael is gone right now, Sarah. At the moment I'm just Chuck, who, as I have already told you, is not comfortable with heights."

"You know," she said, "as a kid and through Harvard I was very much into classic literature. And right now you make it sound like Chuck Bartowski and Charles Carmichael are like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

"An appropriate analogy, I'd say. Hey, you revealed another fact about yourself, Sarah."

"You mean my preferences in literature?"

"Yep. Although, as I have noticed, they have been expanded to include a certain genre of modern literature. My comic books strewn all over your room are proof enough."

"What can I say? I like to broaden my horizons."

A few minutes later the ride was over and Chuck was gratefully standing on solid ground once again. He moved to a stand and got some cotton candy for himself and for Sarah. They strolled around the fair arm in arm before he spoke up again.

"Sarah?"

"Yes, Chuck?"

"I was wondering what Casey is doing right now."

"He's doing his job."

"In Castle?"

"No, here. He's keeping an eye on us."

"Great. Didn't you tell him that we don't need a chaperone on a date?"

"I tried to, but he wouldn't listen. I think sometimes he's getting too paranoid even for a spy."

"Can't say I blame him. I mean, look what happened in the past few days. It made me wonder who else I know is a spy. My own sister could be a spy; Morgan; or Awesome, even Jeff and Lester."

"Are you serious? I admit Ellie would be a good spy. Her snooping tendencies and interrogation skills ensure that. But I seriously doubt that Jeff and Lester could be spies."

"OK, that was a bad example."

"What do you want to do next?"

"I'd like to try my hand at the shooting gallery."

"Me first."

"What, are you afraid that the guns are booby trapped by Fulcrum to kill me?"

"No, but I wanna show you the proper way to shoot."

"Please, I've been coming here forever."

"Shut up and watch."

Five shots later…

"What the heck happened?" Sarah asked incredulously. She had missed with all her shots.

"Let me try, baby," Chuck said confidently. Sarah bit back a scathing reply. She'd enjoy ribbing her boyfriend after his expected spectacular failure.

Five more shots later…

"Uh…"

"Sarah? Are you OK?"

"…"

"Hello? Chuck to Sarah." She still couldn't form words to reply, but she did choose a big teddy bear from the prizes. They were walking away from the shooting gallery when she found her voice again.

"How did you do that?"

"Duck Hunt."

"You hunt?"

"Yeah."

"Really? I didn't see a shotgun in your apartment."

"I hunt sitting in my living room."

"Now you are not making any sense at all."

"Duck Hunt is a video game by Nintendo. Morgan and I play it all the time."

"In all seriousness you are telling me that playing video games bested my CIA training?" Sarah asked. Chuck was sorely tempted to answer in the affirmative, but in the end he chose to tell her the truth.

"Naw, it was just a matter of experience. I was watching when you tried it and I saw that they haven't changed the sight settings."

"Meaning?"

"The rifles' sights are deliberately not properly zeroed. For instance, all I had to do with the same rifle you used was aim an inch to the right."

"I want a rematch."

"There will be no rematch, Sarah. Aren't you happy with our prize? How are you going to name it, by the way?"

"Casey."

"Huh?"

"I'll have a sugar bear watching over me at night," she laughed.

"Just not let him hear you say that."

"How about my rematch?" Sarah insisted.

"Oh, all right. Remember, pick the same rifle you used before and aim an inch to the right."

"Smartass."

Naturally, this time Sarah won a stuffed toy animal and left the selection to Chuck. He chose a duck. She suggested the Gravitron as their next stop, but, predictably, he declined. In the end they went to her hotel room to enjoy some Chinese takeout and a movie. Sarah was very relieved to see that the whole Jill affair had not seriously or permanently affected her Chuck. He proved it later when she emerged from the bathroom in her high-priced escort outfit.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** Not much to say here, except that this is takes part after the sensei episode. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Repair Job**

"Ouch! Dammit!"

"Sarah? What happened, are you OK?" Chuck asked, looking at his girlfriend, who was on all fours behind the counter of the Double O, trying to fix the cooling circuit he had damaged the previous night. He had offered to do the repair work himself, but she insisted that she could do it just as easily. In doing so she offered him a great view of her white Capri pants clad butt.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, rising to her knees and placing her left index finger in her mouth.

"Let me take a look at it."

"There's no need, really." But she didn't resist as he took her hand in his and examined the finger.

"It's just a scratch," he declared.

"Oh, gee, thanks doctor. I was afraid you might have to amputate," she said sarcastically.

"I'll get you a band aid." He moved to the first aid cabinet in the staff only area and picked an appropriately sized one from a box. He applied some antiseptic to her finger before wrapping the band aid around it. "See? Good as new."

"Thanks," she said. "And why did you disconnect the coolant pipe anyway?"

"That's the fun part. Remember when I called yesterday and told you that Casey had left me cuffed here?"

"Yes," she said suspiciously.

"I used the coolant to make the metal of the cuffs' chain brittle so that I could break it."

"Smart."

"Thanks. Seven seasons of MacGyver finally paid off."

"MacGyver… Sounds familiar… Hey, wasn't it a TV show in the '80s?"

"Yes it was."

"I liked it."

"Me too."

"Being the gigantic Nerd you are, I wouldn't doubt it for a second, Chuck."

"Admit it though. You like this Nerd."

"That I do," she said, getting up on her feet to kiss him. But then she noticed something. "What are you doing there?"

"Huh?"

"You are eating my toppings again," she said accusingly. She knew he'd been doing that the previous night too, while cuffed to the counter, as she'd seen the half-empty bowl.

"So?"

"Strike three, Chuck," she said. "You damaged the refrigerator, you ate my toppings and I injured myself trying to sort out the mess you created." She held up three fingers.

"You are the one who refused to come and free me yesterday. As I recall, you said and I quote: 'Good. Stay there.' Unquote."

"It was for your own good, Chuck."

"Yeah, right," he huffed.

"You got caught by Bennett's men. Does that ring a bell?"

"I was staying in the car! Against my better judgment, because I know it's never safe in the car! Besides, had I not been there…"

"Enough! I agree that you helped, but three strikes mean I have to take measures, punitive measures."

"Such as?" Chuck asked, his tone daring her to reply.

"That's it! I'm cutting you off, Mr. Bartowski!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that for three days, one for each and every one of your infractions, you'll just have to dream about me. During those three days you won't even touch me, much less do anything else to me!"

"Aw, come on Sarah," he said and tried to envelop her in a hug.

"Three days, Chuck; don't make me extend your punishment."

"You are actually serious about this?"

Casey was finishing his report on the Ty Bennett case downstairs in the Castle. He had decided to take a break when he happened to glance at the surveillance monitor for the yogurt shop above. He turned the volume up and watched as the two lovebirds argued. When Sarah handed Chuck his punishment he burst into guffaws. He seriously doubted that they could actually keep off each other for three whole days. Hell, she'd probably fold after a few hours.

Apparently Chuck was thinking the same. He was perplexed by her behavior. Was she on her period? He quickly dismissed the possibility; PMS Sarah was far worse than that, he knew from experience. In the end he concluded that she was just tired. The cleanup at Bennett's dojo had taken until late last night. He decided to test the waters a little.

"Sarah, you can't keep your hands off of me and we know it. I give you until tonight at the latest before you change your mind."

"Dream on, Chuck," she said. She could be really stubborn sometimes, but when he was giving her that puppy dog look she was dangerously close to succumbing to it.

"I'm just saying that by cutting me off you are also cutting yourself off. Ergo, you are also punishing yourself."

"Using reverse psychology on me won't work," she said stubbornly.

Staying true to her word proved to be as difficult as Chuck and Casey had foreseen. Especially since they had to join Devon and Ellie for dinner.

"Sarah, is something wrong?" Ellie was perceptive and had immediately noticed how Sarah had been avoiding her brother.

"What makes you say that?"

"You can't fool me, Sarah. Did you and Chuck have a fight?"

"Not exactly."

"What did my idiot brother do then?"

"Why does it have to be me?" Chuck complained.

"I know you Chuck. You did something to make Sarah mad at you."

"Did not!"

"Yes you did," Sarah said.

"I repeat my question," said Ellie. "What did he do this time?"

"Well, I was trying to fix something at the Orange Orange…"

"After you rejected my offer for help," Chuck interrupted.

"And this happened," Sarah continued, holding up her injured finger. "And he was also eating the toppings." Of course she couldn't tell anything about the mission at the dojo the previous night.

"Sarah, I think you are overreacting a bit. I know Chuck can sometimes rub people the wrong way, but that was nothing serious."

"Well said, sis. Tell me, was all that worth me getting cut off for three days?"

"Whoa, Sarah, this is not awesome," added Devon. "You cut Chuck off because of a minor incident?"

"He deserved it!" Sarah insisted. But her resolve was already beginning to crumble. The realization that she would have to take care of certain things herself for the duration of Chuck's punishment period did not exactly help.

"No, he did not. Of course, you could be using it as an excuse to keep the passion up by making yourself scarce for a short while."

"Devon, she absolutely has no need to do that."

"I know, bro. You two have been going at it like there is no tomorrow."

"I can't help it if I'm so irresistible to her."

"You are despicable," Sarah said, mimicking Duffy Duck. All the others laughed.

"And you have sealed your fate," said Chuck. "After dinner we'll watch Looney Tunes in my room. Together," he decreed.

"Dream on."

"Are you sure? I know you love Looney Tunes."

"She does?" Devon asked.

"Uh-huh. She's my Lola Bunny, or would be if I were Bugs."

"Did you just compare me to a cartoon character?"

"I insinuated that if we were cartoons, we'd be these two."

"And that makes it better?"

"Doesn't it?"

"You are incorrigible!"

"That's why you love me so much," he shot back. Ellie and Devon were obviously enjoying the scene, trying not to laugh.

In Chuck's room Sarah made herself comfortable on the bed while he fiddled with the DVD player. He went to sit next to her only to find a wall of pillows in the middle of the bed.

"What's all that for?"

"Insurance," she replied.

"Are you afraid you'll get all frisky and not be able to control your urges while I'm so close to you?"

"Shut up and start the movie."

Somehow she managed not to jump Chuck during the movie. She was trying to stay true to her word, no matter how horny she actually was. Knowing she wouldn't be able to hold out much longer if she kept sharing the same space with him, she got up to leave. She would definitely need an ice cold shower in her hotel room.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going back to my place."

"I thought you were going to stay the night."

"Change of plans," she said simply.

"Is there anything I can do to change your mind?"

"No."

"In that case, how about playing you a short video?"

"What kind of video?"

"Turn the privacy device on first."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"It's on. Now, would you mind telling me what we need privacy for?"

"I don't want to become the next target of Casey's angry center. It'd go on overdrive if he knew about the mere existence of what I'm going to show you and what he did to his former sensei would be nothing compared to what he'd do to me if he ever found out about this." His cryptic reply piqued her curiosity. She stopped gathering her things and settled back down on the bed. Chuck inserted a new DVD in the player and went to the kitchen to refill the popcorn bowl and get them more refreshments. When he returned he just sat down and hit the play button on the remote. Sarah instantly realized where the video had been taken.

"That's from the conference where the bio-weapon was released."

"Yup. I watched it, by the way. And I have to say that you do a most beautiful Australian accent."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Chuck," she said, but the slight blush creeping on her cheeks belied her words.

"If you say so." After the part where she left the podium he fast forwarded the video to another scene.

_I served my country with honor, Bartowski. Please, let me die with dignity_, they saw Casey say.

"What the…" she said.

"Yeah," he replied.

"You actually kissed him?"

"I thought I could transmit the anti-virus to him in that way, since the injector was broken."

"Would it work?"

"No. I didn't know that at the time though. Fortunately I had the presence of mind to confiscate the video."

"Good thing you did. It could compromise all three of us if it ever got out."

"Uh-huh. And the Bugs Bunny/Elmer Fudd scene was not exactly our finest hour either."

Sarah couldn't help it any longer. She started laughing hard. So hard in fact, that she curled up wrapping her arms around her stomach.

"Oh, Chuck," she said after she managed to regain a semblance of composure, "it was so damn funny. Therefore I consider you as having made up for your previous infractions."

"Really?" Chuck asked. She didn't reply. Instead, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him down to her for a fierce kiss. She didn't openly admit it, but she could never stay mad at her boyfriend for long.

"Chuck?" Sarah said later as she lay snuggled up against him, her fingers tracing small circles on his chest.

"Yes?"

"Can I have a copy of the video?"

"So that you can add it to the stuff you can blackmail Casey with?"

"Yes, but mostly for my personal enjoyment."

"You can keep the original."

"Thanks."

"You are welcome."

"Ready for another round?"

"This woman will be the death of me," lamented Chuck jokingly, looking up at the ceiling. "Do your worst, Agent Walker."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N:** Nice to see you are still enjoying this fic.

This is my take on the aftermath of one of my favorite episodes, adapted to this AU, of course.

* * *

_It's personal  
Everyone_

_What can I say? I am an articulate schnook  
Chuck Bartowski_

_She turned out pretty good, even with a lousy father  
Jack Burton_

**Chuck & Sarah vs Rocky Road**

"You okay?" Chuck asked, approaching Sarah, who had just sent the police officers that had come to arrest her Dad on a wild goose chase.

"I'm fine," she replied. In fact she was a bit cold. She shivered in the cool air and rubbed her hands over her bare arms. He noticed it immediately.

"Here," he said, taking off his Buy More jacket and draping it over her shoulders. She gave him a grateful smile and instinctively wrapped it tighter around her, savoring his warmth. He then laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and guided her inside the hotel. "He'll be back soon," he added reassuringly.

"No he won't," she said. He saw the sad and faraway look on her beautiful face and turned around, looking towards the spot where he'd been standing with Jack just a minute ago. Sarah's father had disappeared.

_Yes he will_, Chuck thought, _and I'll make damn sure of it._ He kept his supporting hold on her during the elevator ride to her floor, while she leaned into him, eyes closed, fighting to hold back the tears. He was walking her to her room when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking it out, he saw that he had a new text message. It was from Jack. _I promised Angel to get her a double scoop of Rocky Road. Could you please do that for me? Thanks, Jack_, it read. He smiled; he was definitely going to get Sarah the ice cream. In the last couple of days he had learned a lot about her, about the girl she'd been before the CIA. And he had to be there for her, to show her that he still loved her regardless of what she used to be.

"Sarah, I have a little something to take care of. I'll be back in a few minutes," he said when she opened the door. Before leaving he gently grasped her cheeks and kissed her.

"I'll be right here," she replied. He hurried downstairs and exited the hotel. On the way to the ice cream store around the corner he started refining a plan that had popped in his head while taking Sarah to her room. Remembering that even the best laid plans were fertile grounds for Murphy's Law to work and wanting to cover all contingencies, he also drew up a backup plan, one he would keep to himself until the time came to put it to action. But he really hoped it wouldn't have to come to that.

At the store he bought an entire carton of ice cream. Somehow he knew that even a double scoop wouldn't be enough. After paying for it he hurried back to Sarah with long, confident strides, having just put the finishing touches to his plans. He was sure they'd work. Plan A would be initiated later that day. Until then he would keep Sarah company, for she really needed it. She needed him.

She'd given him a key, so he just let himself in. He found her curled up in one of the comfortable green chairs by the window, knees tucked under her chin and still holding his jacket tightly wrapped around her.

"I'm back," he announced. "Where do you keep the spoons?"

"They are in the cupboard by the coffee maker."

"I know you asked your Dad for a double scoop, but I had a feeling it just wouldn't be enough. It would certainly not have been enough for both of us, for I'll have you know that I also have a sweet tooth for the stuff."

"How… how did you know?" Sarah asked as she accepted the carton and the spoons while he moved the vacant chair next to hers and sat down.

"Your Dad texted me while I was taking you up here and asked me to get you a double scoop of Rocky Road," he replied, showing her Jack's message. "And thanks to him I now know your favorite ice cream flavor as well."

"You really love learning new things about me, don't you?"

"Oh yeah. By the way, I was talking to him outside when the police arrived and he had to take off. He saw you talking to the officers."

"And…?" She was a bit worried.

"He believes you are some kind of cop. There is no way for him to know that you are a CIA agent. And no, he doesn't hold it against you. In fact, he's proud of you for turning out so good. He told me he regrets not being a better father. I believe he used the term 'lousy' to describe himself." Chuck's words had an immediate soothing effect on her. She smiled widely and started digging into the ice cream carton. It had been a long time since she'd last had any Rocky Road and she now realized just how much she'd missed it.

Chuck stayed with Sarah for several more hours comforting her. He didn't tell her anything about his plans, partly because he wanted to avoid getting her hopes up for something that might not work, partly because he wasn't sure how she'd take it and partly because he wanted it to be a surprise. When she started to get drowsy he took her to the bed, had her change into a nightgown and tucked her in. She fell asleep almost immediately. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and lovingly kissed her cheek before quietly letting himself out. Once outside he headed straight to the Herder, got in and started the engine.

Only he didn't drive home. Instead he went back to the strip mall and let himself into the Orange Orange through the back door. Quickly, he descended the stairs to the Castle. He was alone in there. Casey was at his place watching a History Channel documentary. Chuck stood before the main console and pulled up some files on one of the terminals. He watched the video he selected for a while and then turned it off, a satisfied smile forming on his face. Taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he activated the communications link.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Bartowski?" General Beckman asked when contact was established and she saw who was calling. "Did you flash?"

"No, General, I did not flash. There is, however, another matter I need to talk to you about."

"I'm listening."

"You have to call off the hunt for Sarah's father," he said, getting straight to the point.

"Why should I do that, Chuck?"

"There are several good reasons," he said. "You can see it as a small gift to one of the best agents you have working for you, for one. Surely she merits it."

"Mr. Bartowski…"

"General, please hear me out. Jack Burton is no threat to us, or, more specifically, to me, the Intersect. He doesn't know my status with the CIA and the NSA. He knows that Sarah works for the federal government, but he believes she's just some kind of cop. I know you hate loose ends, but you'll have to let this one slide. I am aware that Casey was also against arresting Sarah's father."

"You are?"

"Yes. And knowing Casey, he didn't take the matter lightly. He knows that having Jack Burton running around free does not endanger me in the slightest and he values Sarah as a partner; even I can tell that much. She deserves to be able to contact her father without fear of getting him into trouble. The less worries she has, the better she'll be on her job."

"You make a valid point there."

"I know, General. In addition, what is Mr. Burton to be prosecuted for? What crime has he committed?"

"I don't understand. What's the point of the question?"

"General, he did con the sheik out of seven hundred grand, but the crime was committed abroad, specifically in Dubai, outside of the jurisdiction of US courts of law. So he can't be prosecuted for that."

"That is correct."

"In addition, there is no way a prosecutor can make an embezzlement charge stick. Remember, until very recently he believed that his daughter was a con artist. He can't exactly be accused of embezzling funds obtained during a CIA sanctioned con job. Any self respecting jury would roll to the floor laughing if they were to hear something like that. An obstruction of justice or similar charge is also out of the question, as he was not aware of the operation to identify the sheik's accounts and freeze them. The only reason he diverted the ten million, by the way, was to ensure that Sarah would get her fair share, as he didn't trust 'Cop Face'."

"Excuse me?"

"That's how he described Casey. He also described me as a schnook when we first met, but that's irrelevant. All the above said, I don't think the CIA should get into the trouble of manufacturing a believable charge and the evidence to go with it against Mr. Burton. It would be a waste of resources in my opinion, as well as inappropriate behavior towards a valuable agent."

"You certainly make a convincing case, Mr. Bartowski. You almost sound like a lawyer."

"I have seen my share of legal shows on TV," he shrugged. Uncharacteristically a tight smile appeared on the General's normally stern face.

"So be it. I'll let Mr. Burton walk away this time. But don't count on my help if he gets into more trouble on his own."

"In that case you can just mention his valuable service to the government in order to ensure that he gets more lenient treatment. It should be no trouble to you."

"Again, you are right. Is there anything else?"

"No ma'am. Thank you and goodnight."

"Goodnight Mr. Bartowski."

After Beckman signed off, he turned the communications equipment off, locked up and went back to the parking lot. Driving home he made a stop and bought some more Rocky Road. He was planning on telling Sarah tomorrow and they'd need the ice cream to celebrate together after dinner. He was also glad that he wouldn't have to go to Plan B, which involved him appearing unannounced as a defense witness before or during Jack's trial, using his Agent Carmichael credentials to confer in private with the judge and the prosecutor and get them to drop the charges. He had just parked the Herder at its usual spot and had entered the courtyard when someone approached him.

"Good job, Moron."

"Argh! Casey! Do you really have to do that?"

"*grunt* (It's fun to see you jump and shriek like a little girl) I know where you were and what you did."

"Really?"

"You can't get into the Castle and use equipment without me knowing, imbecile. Anyway, you did manage to get the General to do the right thing and let Walker's father go free. She deserves that much."

"Thanks Casey."

"You are welcome. Goodnight now. We have the early shift tomorrow."

"Goodnight Casey."

On his lunch break the following day Chuck told Sarah everything. To say that she was very happy with the news would be an understatement. In fact, her first reaction was to kiss him long and hard in front of all the customers inside the Double O. Together they agreed to try to get her Dad to live the life of an honest man from now on. She was even happier when he told her he had Rocky Road for dessert after dinner.

Chuck and Ellie were rinsing the dishes and stacking them in the dishwasher. Captain Awesome was watching TV, but Sarah was nowhere to be seen.

"Devon, have you seen Sarah anywhere?"

"She must be either in your room or in the bathroom. Boy, that girl can really put away the ice cream."

"It's her favorite flavor, ever since she was little."

"I can understand that, bro. Ellie also has a similar quirk."

"Tell me about it. She's insufferable if she doesn't get her chocolate fix."

"You two have your addictions as well," Ellie pointed out.

"We are only human, sis," Chuck said, expressing both his and Devon's sentiments. "I'm going to bed now. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Chuck," Ellie and Devon said in unison.

When Chuck opened the door of his room he jumped a good two feet in surprise. There, on his bed which had a plastic sheet spread over it, was Sarah, her naked body covered in Rocky Road ice cream. He quickly closed the door and locked it lest they have a repeat of the previous incident where Ellie had walked in on them.

"I believe you have room for a little more dessert, Chuck," Sarah said invitingly.

_Hell yeah_, he thought, removed his clothes and pounced.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N:** My AU version of another of my favorite episodes, which happened to have a load of Sarah hotness.

* * *

_I've earned it! I deserve it! I'm losing consciousness…_

_Chuck Bartowski_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Rock Star**

"Chuck…" The familiar voice was interrupting his nightmare. In his dream he was seeing a slightly battered Sarah execute Fulcrum agent/LAPD negotiator Mauser in cold blood, over and over again. He could see the anger and hate clouding her beautiful features.

"Chuck…" The same voice again, calling his name. "Chuck, wake up," insisted the voice. He opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of his beautiful girlfriend, who was smiling sweetly while looking at him, her face framed in the cascading halo of her blonde tresses.

"Sarah, what are you…" He noticed she was dressed in skimpy black lingerie which, as he would say, didn't cover a thing. "… doing here?" Chuck finished the question. "Oh… Oh, okay," he mumbled as she knelt at the foot of the bed and started playing with his feet. "Sarah?"

"Yes Chuck?"

"This is a dream…"

"No, it isn't," she replied, her smile never faltering.

"Ha-ha-ha, who are we kidding here, huh?" Undeterred, Sarah was on all fours climbing on the bed and seductively moving towards him. "This is… this is clearly my subconscious at work and on behalf of my conscious self I'd… I'd like to apologize. I'm normally much more respectful of women, even in my dreams." It was true. Although when they were together Sarah had a tendency towards wild behavior in the bedroom, he loved her too much not to respect her as a person. Right now it was almost like the woman he was seeing wasn't really his Sarah, but a sex robot. "It's just that, you know, anxiety and fear can really, um, affect your dream life," he said.

"And what are you afraid of?" Sarah asked in the same saucy tone.

"I watched you kill that Fulcrum agent in cold blood," he said, his expression serious. She recoiled slightly at hearing his words. "Sarah, I… I am not like you, okay? I might have all these government secrets in my brain, but that doesn't make me a real spy. I… I need to tell you all this in reality and not in my dream."

"Chuck?" She leaned in close to him. "This isn't a dream."

"What is it?"

"It's a nightmare," she replied. Suddenly she became the cold hearted spy again, produced a huge sharp knife and before she plunged it in his heart he saw that the hand holding it still had his mother's charm bracelet around the wrist. He screamed; there was nothing else he could do anyway.

Chuck bolted upright, still screaming in terror, but now fully awake. "That's not the way that dream was supposed to go," he muttered lamely.

Meanwhile, in her hotel room, Sarah Walker was tossing and turning trying to get some solid sleep, instead of the fitful catnaps she'd been taking lately. She'd never had any problem sleeping when she was with Chuck. His mere presence was usually enough to allow her to be enveloped in a cocoon of warmth, love and safety, guaranteeing her a good night's sleep. Even on the rare occasions she had nightmares, he was always there to offer a few words of comfort and a reassuring hug.

But recently he had been avoiding her. The few times they had slept together in the past week, they had done just that: they had slept. Clearly something was bothering Chuck. She wanted to know what it was, so that she could help him get over it. In the end she determined that it must have all been caused by the Fulcrum orchestrated hostage crisis situation at the Buy More and the threats leveled against his sister. It just didn't add up. The last time his normal world and the spy world had collided, and that was last year when Ellie had been poisoned by Paine, he had freaked out monumentally, but had also turned to her for comfort and reassurance (and they had burned off the nervous energy after the mission with a lot of amazing sex too). Now he was trying to have as little contact with her as possible. Why was he doing that? Was he trying to get over it by himself this time? Or he had been even more affected by the situation, given that everyone he cared about had been in grave danger?

While doing her cover job at the yogurt shop she realized that she needed help. She was still not very good at talking about her feelings. Who should she turn to? Ellie was out of the question; she would go into overprotective big sister mode and do more harm than good, especially if she started snooping around. Casey had once offered good relationship advice, but if she went to him she'd have to endure a whole load of crap he'd give her about 'lady feelings'. The last possibility was Awesome. He was open about pretty much everything, but she wasn't sure if she could give him sufficient information to allow him to help her get to the root of the problem.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Chuck calling her and Casey on his communicator, telling them that there was a guy with a grenade in the Buy More. She dropped everything and ran to cover the back of the electronics store. Casey would take the front as he was already there.

She would later have a good laugh watching the surveillance tapes of the Buy Morians playing football with the box that contained the grenade, especially about the part where Mr. Butterman had decked Morgan with an arm sweep. But for now…

"Good morning Chuck," she said after the grenade had gone off harmlessly, the blast contained by the computer case, the refrigerator and the supply closet they had put the grenade in.

After the inevitable briefing with General Beckman, Chuck had once again been forced to watch Sarah getting all flirty with a mark, this time it was rock star Tyler Martin. Fortunately she did manage to get him alone and Casey knocked him out with a tranq dart. They also had a lead on the bomber. Casey and Sarah went after him, leaving Chuck to watch over Tyler.

"So what's with Chuck?" Sarah asked. She decided to see if Casey had noticed the change in her boyfriend's behavior and what he thought about it.

"Guy's got a point; about a day off. If you ask me we are lucky he didn't melt down months ago." It seemed like a reasonable explanation. Accumulated fatigue could certainly result in that kind of behavior. But somehow she knew it wasn't exactly that.

"No, I think it's something else. He's been acting strange since the holidays." They had to interrupt their discussion in order to raid the bomber's hideout. Going back to Casey's apartment he offered to help in his own way.

"Look, if you're worried about Chuck I could talk to him, scare him straight. I'd actually enjoy that."

"Uh, no, it's OK, I get him under control." She knew Casey had the potential to make matters a lot worse.

The rest of the mission went as usual, meaning that Chuck once again failed to follow instructions and had to jump off a building to evade two drop dead gorgeous brunette assassins. Sarah had really enjoyed kicking their lights out for trying to seduce and kill her boyfriend. Later she and Casey read Chuck the riot act for not following orders. Eventually Casey had to either shoot him or tranq him. Fortunately, he went for the latter option.

Chuck and the two agents finally explained the situation to Tyler. He was terrified, but Chuck managed to convince him to help. His little speech was very enlightening. Sarah, who was watching on a surveillance monitor felt really proud when Chuck admitted that he trusted her and Casey with his life and identified the problem that was bothering him when Chuck confessed that he would give anything for a normal life, or at least a life without the Intersect, but with a kick-ass spy girlfriend, as she interpreted the statement.

Casey had carted off Ahmed, while Chuck and Sarah had stayed and enjoyed Tyler's performance at the charity concert. Later, after the rock star bade his goodbyes, Sarah felt it was time for a heart to heart talk with Chuck.

"You did a great job, Chuck," she began.

"Thanks."

"Look, if… if there is something bothering you, then please tell me. I know part of your job is to have all these secrets in your head, but you are not supposed to keep them from me."

"Yeah, I know. I know." He took a moment to place his thoughts in order and then came up clean. "I saw you shoot that Fulcrum agent on Christmas Eve, after they took over the Buy More. And when I asked you about it…"

"I lied," she admitted.

"Yeah."

"Chuck, I have to protect you."

"I know that. I… I know that you do. And you were protecting me, you were protecting all of us. He threatened my family, my friends and you were just doing your job, I get that. But, Sarah, the guy was unarmed, and-"

"I did what I had to do," she interrupted and tried to explain. "He knew who you really were. Your whole family was in danger." She hadn't done it just for Chuck. She'd done it for all of them. "And I'm sorry. Sometimes I forget that you never asked for all of this." It was a relief to get it all out and she saw that he was beginning to understand. She should have come clean from the start. They would have helped each other get over it much faster.

"These parts I'm not sure I'll ever get used to."

"Well, you deserve a break," she said, remembering Casey's assessment, which had been confirmed earlier by Chuck. "So, take tonight, tomorrow, whatever you need. It's yours."

"Seriously? Really?" He was excited at the prospect of some time off from the spy business. He could make it up to Sarah for questioning her motives in the Mauser situation.

"Yeah. No missions, no cameras, no Casey, no thermal satellite surveillance and… no me." The last part obviously pained her to say. And he did want her to be with him and have fun on his time off. Fist he tried to make light of the situation.

"You guys use satellites?"

"Yeah," she smiled. "And, Chuck, when you're ready again we'll be here, waiting." He nodded his understanding and then saw Casey coming out of his place with two duffel bags. They told him to enjoy his time off, while they dealt with their new mission.

"Mission without Bartowski," Casey rubbed his hands in delight after getting behind the wheel of the Vic. "I'm gonna enjoy this." His joy was short-lived as Chuck decided that he couldn't leave them to go on a mission without the Intersect and joined them.

With Chuck on the team the mission proved to be ridiculously easy. All it took was one flash and the rest was child's play for Casey and Sarah. Thus they wrapped it all up quickly and returned to Echo Park less than three hours later.

"Oh boy," said Chuck, "this went well."

"Yeah," Sarah yawned, stretching sexily and then leaning on him. "I'll yell at you for jumping off a building tomorrow."

"You did yell at me, before Casey tranqed me."

"I don't think it was enough."

"It was, believe me."

"G'night lovebirds," said Casey and disappeared inside his apartment.

"Goodnight Casey," they said and entered Chuck's room through the Morgan Door.

Sarah waited until Chuck was done brushing his teeth and announced that she was going to take a shower. He got in bed and promptly fell asleep. Not for long though; Sarah's husky voice once again reached his ears.

"Chuck… Chuck, wake up." He opened his eyes and saw her at the foot of the bed, in the same skimpy black lingerie she had been wearing in his nightmare.

"AAAH! Not that nightmare again!"

"Chuck? What nightmare are you talking about?" She was concerned now.

"The other night… you were here… dressed exactly like that… and… and you told me it wasn't a dream but a nightmare and you stabbed me," he babbled.

"Chuck, I love you. I'd never hurt you."

"Really?"

"Yes. Unless you were cheating on me with a brunette skank."

"No need to worry about that."

"Good. My knives are over there, by the way," she said, pointing at her overnight bag by the closet.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Pinch me. I need to make sure I'm not dreaming again."

"Oh, I can do a lot more than just pinch you to convince you it's real and not a dream," she said salaciously, crawling on the bed over to him.

"Is it going to hurt?"

"Not unless you want it to."

"I don't."

"As you wish. Now, we need to make up for all the lost fun since the holidays."

"We don't have to do that all in one go, you know."

"That doesn't mean we won't try."

*meep*

"Tonight you are my rock star, Chuck. Make me, your biggest fan, happy!"

"If you put it that way, how can I refuse? Let's rock!"


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N:** Ever wondered how V-Day and the suburbs mission would have been had Chuck and Sarah been a real couple back then? Here's one take on the subject. Enjoy!

* * *

_Well, this ought to be good_

_Brad White_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Cohabitation**

Chuck was in the Buy More, watching the wall with a look of horror on his face. Sarah, looking hot, as usual, in her Double O outfit entered the store and sought him out.

"Are you OK, Chuck?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, no, not since Emmett started playing romantic comedies 24/7. He must love Must Love Dogs, cause that's all he's been showing."

"Right," Sarah laughed. "Well, I was just wondering about tonight."

"Oh, is there a mission tonight?" Chuck asked and Sarah couldn't help but smile. She thought it was cute when he was clueless like that.

"Actually, I was referring to the whole Valentine's Day thing."

"Oh, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Did you want to do something?"

"No, I didn't have anything particular in mind; I was just curious. Unless you wanted to do something." She was completely honest; V-Day wasn't exactly her thing, but now she was dating for real. And so she was curious if Chuck could come up with some real couple stuff for them to do.

"Doesn't it seem like we ought to do something? I mean, it's up to you."

"Yeah, sure, OK, I mean, we have been dating for over a year now, right?"

"Yeah… I mean it would be weird if we didn't do something."

"Completely weird," she agreed. She really didn't have a clue as to what that something would be. Well, she'd leave the planning to Chuck, who was more knowledgeable in that department. They laughed awkwardly.

"I'll think of something."

"In the meantime I have a bunch of paperwork to catch up on."

"Good."

"Great."

"Hey, hey, hey, happy Valentine's Day you two," Morgan said, coming up on the couple. "Any hot plans for tonight?"

"Absolutely, there is," Chuck said, trying to reassure Sarah that all would be OK. "My house at eight o'clock, right?"

"I can hardly wait. I'll see you then sweetie," she said and planted a quick but loving kiss on him.

"Did you ever think that the two of us would ever wind up with smart beautiful sexually adventuresome girls on Valentine's Day?" Morgan asked. Before Chuck had a chance to answer, Big Mike barged in with all the finesse of a sonic boom.

"The answer is NO! Two jackasses like you landing two hot pieces like Anna and Blondie, it's a cruel trick of nature! Grimes! Get your butt to the sales floor before I kick it over there! Bartowski, herd up the Nerds!" As it turned out the boss was in a foul mood because his wife was leaving him and had in fact had the divorce papers delivered that day. Quite an irony, such papers being delivered on Valentine's Day.

In the apartment, Chuck was sprawled on the couch, trying to catch his breath. Since Ellie and Devon had picked this day for a romantic getaway, he and Sarah had the entire apartment to themselves. So, in addition to the flowers and the chocolates he'd gotten for her, they'd had a romantic dinner of Chinese takeout, and then Sarah had revealed the incredibly sexy lingerie she'd been wearing, having bought it for the occasion, and they'd proceeded to defile every room except for Ellie and Devon's bedroom. It had seemed like a welcome change, since until then they had been getting together either in his bedroom or in her hotel room and a change of scenery was more than welcome. In fact Sarah had been incredibly turned on and she just couldn't have enough.

"Can I ask you a question?" Sarah asked, breaking the silence.

"Sure."

"This is your worst Valentine's Day ever, right?"

"Come on, don't be silly."

"Please, you are not going to offend me." She was new to this stuff and she really needed to know how she was doing. She needed to have him help her deal with her insecurities when it came to feelings and relationships.

"It's the most exhausting perhaps, but definitely not the worst. There must be someone, somewhere having a far worse Valentine's Day." The humorous answer had the desired effect and brought a huge smile to her face and allowed herself to relax in Chuck's arms.

That someone, by the way, was Casey right across the courtyard. He had been enjoying some whiskey and a burnt Hot Pocket (he never seemed to be able to get those done right), while watching a Vietnam War documentary when General Beckman contacted him and gave him a new assignment. She needed someone to find out what an agent who had gone insane had been doing in the suburbs. When Casey commented that he wouldn't fit in very well in the Hell of Suburbia, the General told him that she needed a real couple for the assignment.

Meanwhile, Chuck was trying to fend off Sarah, who wanted yet another encore, as he hadn't fully regained his strength after the last go. Sarah had just managed to pin him down and was about to rip his boxer shorts off while simultaneously kissing him when her phone rang.

"Sarah, your phone's ringing," he squeaked, trying in vain, as it seemed, to stop her from (again) having her way with him.

"Forget it. I have other things to take care of right now," she said lustily.

"It could be important," he said. She growled in frustration and picked up her phone from the coffee table. "Is that Casey?" Chuck asked.

"Looks like we got a mission."

"Thank you General Beckman!" He was relieved he was spared more sweet, but exhausting, torture at her hands. Of course she was disappointed that her job was ruining a perfect evening with her boyfriend, but quickly pulled on her clothes and went with Chuck out into the courtyard to meet Casey.

"'Fraid you two are going to have to drop your dating 'cover' for this particular mission," Casey said without preamble.

"No problem," said Sarah.

"What is it? Thai street racing gang, Ukrainian prostitution ring?" Chuck asked. A change would be welcome in the spy stuff too.

"No. For this mission you and Agent Walker are going to be married," Casey replied with an evil grin and produced two wedding rings. Chuck and Sarah looked at them in surprise and hesitantly took them. "You two kids are going to the suburbs," Casey continued. The couple looked at each other and then at Casey in shock. "Good luck as a normal couple." Both Chuck and Sarah understood the meaning of that last statement. They were a real couple, but that didn't mean they were a normal one, despite trying to do normal couple stuff whenever they could. As for Casey, he was thoroughly enjoying seeing them this uncomfortable.

The following day Chuck was preparing for the mission to the suburbs. And, naturally, he could not avoid a round of questioning – an inquisition really – by Ellie. He told her the cover story Sarah had come up with: That they were house-sitting in the suburbs. Her reaction was predictable…

"Oh… Chuck, that's... that's great!"

"Spending a week in the suburbs? Yeah, dream come true!"

"No, don't you get it? This is… this is like a dry run you know, so you and Sarah can see what it would really be like," Ellie said, pointing at her engagement ring.

"Zip it, nuh-uh, that is your wedding craziness right there. So keep that! That's yours," Chuck said, well aware of the direction his sister was steering the conversation to. "We're just house-sitting, it's no big deal."

"Okay, fine. Can we call it 'Cohabitating with your long term girlfriend in a house that doesn't have posters that were hung in the 8th grade'?" Ellie insisted, theatrically indicating the Tron poster in Chuck's room.

"That is a collectible," Chuck insisted. "But yeah, fine, we can call it that."

"And that is a big step forward," she said happily and applauded before literally bouncing out of his room.

Later, Chuck was driving his NSA-issue Saab 9-3 SportCombi and parked it in front of the garage of the Carmichael house. He paused a bit, taking in the sight of the beautiful neighborhood before entering. The photos of the 'Carmichaels' were the first thing that caught his eye: wedding pictures, honeymoon photos, and various snapshots of him and Sarah together. Some were real, and others had been photoshopped, by Sarah herself no less. He knew that for a fact. After all, she had made that promise photo of them together at Comic-Con. There was even a photo of a dog. Said dog passed by him in the living room.

"Love what you've done with the place," he told his 'wife', who was carrying a huge bowl.

"Thanks," she replied. "I had help."

"Uh, sorry, but whose life have I stepped into?" Chuck asked jokingly. "What… what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm making potato salad," Sarah replied. She also looked every bit the suburban housewife she was supposed to be on this mission. A drop dead gorgeous suburban housewife, that is.

"Are you cooking for the entire neighborhood?"

"No Chuck," she replied gamely. "You are." She handed him a plate of sausages, burgers and steaks for barbecuing on a Beast Master 2000 grill (the moment he saw it he realized that Casey was behind the choice of brand) that was installed in the back yard. There, the "Carmichaels' met their new neighbors. Chuck and Sarah found that playing the roles of a married couple was easier than they had first expected and even enjoyable, more so on this mission than on any other they had used the same cover in the past.

Even Casey was there, disguised as the cable guy. He found a bug, which a flash from Chuck identified as being used by Fulcrum. The situation was way more serious than they had originally believed. And on top of all else, Sylvia, a neighbor's wife, was shamelessly hitting on Chuck. Sarah managed to conceal her anger and pretended not to notice, but inside she wanted to skin that cougar and use the hide as a rug in the living room, or would have if she had been dealing with a real feline and not a husband-stealing slut.

The first night at the house was mostly spent 'reinforcing their cover', i.e. doing what a newly wed couple would do. And this was the part of the mission they enjoyed the most. Needless to say, sleep was not their first priority. In the morning Chuck went to the kitchen following the wonderful smell of breakfast, yawning all the way down, the dog following on his heels. There he was greeted by the sight of a radiant Sarah, in the sexy pink nightgown she had not worn for long last night, making breakfast.

"Hi," she said when she noticed his presence, "did you sleep well?"

"Like a log, honey, how did you sleep?" It was said loudly and he used hand gestures to inquire about bugs.

"I'm cooking breakfast," she said. "Casey swept the house, it's clean."

"OK. What, are we going to invite the neighbors over?"

"No, Chuck. I'm cooking for you," she replied and immediately noticed the goofy grin that appeared on his face. "What?"

"Nothing… It's just…funny; I never pictured you doing this," he said as she chopped some herbs for the breakfast omelet she was making.

"Well, what can I say? I'm versatile," she said smiling. "Sit," she commanded. He obeyed and she served him breakfast.

"Hold on. Are… are you enjoying this whole Martha Stewart thing?" She gave him a funny look. "I can't believe it! Please tell me you're not going soft on me."

"Shut up and eat your breakfast," she said, while enjoying some fruit.

"You better be careful Sarah; one day you might actually turn into a real girl." They both smiled. Chuck started eating and marveled at the taste. Ellie's cooking lessons had not been for naught. Sarah in the meantime was feeding the dog.

"I've got your suit ready upstairs," she said when they finished their breakfast.

"Thanks honey," he replied. "By the way, is the dog an agent too?"

"What?" The question was a bit weird to her, until she realized he was joking. "No," she laughed, "he 'works' for the props department."

As he went to take the car and head for the Buy More, she caught him outside.

"Sweetie," she called. He turned and saw her in a robe matching her nightgown and fluffy bunny slippers. "Sweetie, I almost forgot. Would you mind swinging by the store for me?" She gave him a list of things to buy. "Have a great day." She kissed him and waved goodbye with the dog by her side as he drove away. _I could get used to this_, he thought. Being 'married' to Sarah Lisa Walker did have its perks. For a fleeting second he wondered if it would all be just as good had they been married for real.

Getting ready for his shift at the Buy More he couldn't resist taking a last look at the list, smiling at the thought of Sarah the super spy girlfriend as Sarah the super housewife.

"Wipe that look off your face," Casey said, snatching the list from him.

"Wait, that's Sarah's…" the protest was cut off as he saw Casey use a UV flashlight to reveal a message written with invisible ink on the back of the shopping list. As it turned out, Sylvia's husband was Fulcrum. And he had been buying lots and lots of data line cable, possibly for hacking into government servers. Chuck was given the assignment to get close to Sylvia and take a peek at her husband's computer. He was uncomfortable with having to break his fake wedding vows and cheat on his lovely 'wife', who happened to be his real life girlfriend, but she assured him it was for the best.

At first things went according to plan. Crazy Cougar Lady Sylvia invited him in, undressed him and cuffed him to the bed. While she was getting him a drink Chuck managed to escape and run a test version of an Intersect on her husband's computer. He barely managed to get out as he came in. Apparently Sylvia was also a Fulcrum agent. He made his way back to the Carmichael house dressed only in his shorts and undershirt, plus the handcuffs Sylvia had used on him, in full view of the neighbors. The conclusion was easy to reach: he almost got caught by the cuckolded husband and had to beat a hasty retreat. As he got to the door, Sarah appeared.

"You are never gonna believe what just happened to me over there!" Chuck said, meaning the Intersect test. With the entire neighborhood watching, Sarah knew she had to act convincing, so she played the part of the cheated wife to a T and slapped her 'unfaithful husband' before slamming the door shut in his face. Fortunately, at least as far as Chuck was concerned, she used her left hand and gave him an appropriately loud, but not so painful slap. In fact it was nothing compared to the slap she'd once given Bryce (a full force one with her right hand).

General Beckman was furious for Chuck having been exposed not only to Fulcrum but to an entire cul-de-sac of civilians and decreed that the Carmichaels should get a divorce. Meaning that Sarah had to stay alone and monitor Fulcrum, backed up by Casey. They should not expose Chuck to more risk, especially since he now also had Fulcrum programming in his brain.

At the Buy More Chuck flashed on the Meadow Branch logo of the stationery Sarah's shopping list was written on. As it turned out, the corporation was a Fulcrum front and the entire neighborhood was Fulcrum. He tried to warn the others, but it was too late. Sarah and Casey had already been captured by Fulcrum. As was Chuck when he went to the cul-de-sac to see why his handlers weren't answering his calls.

The Fulcrum agents decided to test him by giving him the full download of their Intersect. Sarah was horrified at the prospect. She knew that hitherto all the test subjects had either died or gone mad. But she couldn't do anything to stop them. Chuck was strapped to a chair and subjected to the test. At first her fears seemed to be borne out. Chuck was unresponsive and she was on the verge of tears. But Chuck had absorbed the download with no ill effects.

"Do you mind if we test your wife next?" Sylvia asked.

"Wife? I don't have a wife," replied Chuck. Fortunately Casey had managed to free himself and sneaked into the control booth. Chuck saw him and winked, as he realized that Casey was about to give the Fulcrum staff a taste of their own medicine. He knew he needed to buy some time for Casey as Sarah was being strapped to the chair.

"Before you run the test, I'd like to tell Agent Walker something."

"Agent Walker…" Sylvia said. "Now we have a name.

Chuck turned to Sarah. She looked at him with fear in her eyes. She was afraid her Chuck was gone, until he motioned with his eyes and she saw Casey fiddling with the control console. She was relieved to know that her Chuck had not gone anywhere. He leaned close to her, still pretending to be under the spell of the Fulcrum Intersect.

"Close your eyes," he whispered. She saw Casey put on protective eyewear and screwed her eyes shut.

"Boom," muttered Casey and pushed the activation button. Chuck grabbed Sarah and held her close, shielding her from the lethal images with his body, keeping his own eyes also closed. He held her tight and supportively grasped her hand, the one with the fake wedding ring on it, while around them the Fulcrum agents were falling victim to their own work.

"Are you okay?" Chuck asked frantically as he untied her restraints when it was all over.

"Yeah, you?"

"I think so," he replied. They looked at each other and smiled.

"Somebody call the cable guy?" Casey quipped as he entered the test chamber. Chuck and Sarah ignored him and kissed passionately.

Later, Casey was overseeing the cleanup, while Sarah was being debriefed by the General.

"Besides testing on humans, it appears that Fulcrum is perilously close to completing their own Intersect computer. Making Bartowski more important than ever! His life has never been in more danger. The honeymoon is over, Agent Walker!" Beckman said sternly.

"Yes ma'am," Sarah replied, fully aware of the stakes. A few minutes later, she met up with Chuck upstairs in the yogurt shop.

"Hey, everything OK?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, just a routine debriefing."

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to swing by the old cul-de-sac tonight."

"Why?"

"Oh, ah, I don't know, I mean, you know, I figured we still got the place and Ellie still thinks we're house-sitting, so, I thought, you know, maybe we could enjoy another night in the suburbs. Order in, rent a movie, no mission to worry about, just 'Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael', maybe have some fun."

"Chuck, we can't go back there. It was just a cover."

"Yeah, I know that, I just thought…"

"Casey and I have to shut down the operation. Besides, there is already a cleaner crew over there emptying the place. I have to go help. Can we talk later?"

"Absolutely," he replied and turned to leave, cursing the efficiency of the CIA and the NSA.

"Uh, Chuck?"

"Yeah."

"I'm gonna need that back," she said, indicating his wedding ring.

"Right… Almost forgot," he said, taking it off and handing it over.

"Good thing I remembered," she said. "Can you imagine what would have happened if Ellie were ever to see it?"

"We wouldn't hear the end of it," he laughed. "Getting secretly married without telling her? She'd be mad at both of us."

"I'm not sure my training would be enough to save us from her wrath," Sarah agreed.

"See you later tonight?"

"Your place at eight?"

"It's a date."

At home Ellie grilled her brother about the time with Sarah in the suburbs. He couldn't tell her what exactly had happened, but he just told her that they'd had a good time and also realized that they were not yet ready for long term cohabitation, which was true, in more than one way. He cut off Ellie's attempt at disputing his statement by saying that these things needed time. And he and Sarah had all the time in the world.

The following day Chuck and Sarah had already left for the mall when Ellie and Devon found breakfast ready as they started getting ready for work. Chuck had left a note saying that Sarah had cooked and that he recommended it highly. Sarah in her postscript thanked Ellie for the cooking lessons, stating that they had made their time at the suburbs even better, since love truly goes through the stomach.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N:** Another one of my favorite episodes and its aftermath getting the AU treatment here.

I may stop this fic here, but if you want more of it, I can't deny you.

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs**** the Inquisitive Sister**

The first thing Sarah saw as she got out of the AC Cobra she had appropriated from Jason Wang's garage in order to get to Chuck was the ambassador's guards holding Casey to the ground.

"CIA, let him go," she said, showing her badge. The men realized that something big was afoot to merit the involvement of both the CIA and the NSA and quickly released Casey. "Where is Chuck?" Sarah asked him.

"Heroic imbecile took off with the bomb," he replied tersely, looking at the speeding Herder. "Get out of there Bartowski," he muttered, willing Chuck to abandon the vehicle before it was too late.

"Chuck!" Sarah gasped. A passing tram car blocked their view of the little car. She instinctively took off after it. And then the Matrix was blown apart by the explosion of the bomb intended to kill the ambassador. Sarah stopped in her tracks, looking at the burning wreck in shock. She couldn't believe that her Chuck was dead. Casey also looked horrified at the scene. He knew how fiercely loyal the Moron was to his family and friends, but he never expected him to sacrifice his life for one of them. The first tears started flowing down Sarah's cheeks. Her body convulsed with her quiet sobs as Casey moved behind her to offer what support he could to his partner.

"Now, that was sweet," Chuck said, walking up to his handlers with a smile on his face and the remote control for the Herder in his hands. Sarah and Casey whirled around and looked as if they had just seen a ghost. Chuck immediately noticed their expressions and Sarah's tears.

"You didn't think I was… No, I was using this," he said, hefting the remote.

"Give me that," Casey growled and snatched it from his hand.

"Sorry," Chuck said to Sarah, who was trying to regain her composure and wipe away the tears. "One last favor; can you help me get something out of the trunk?" He moved to the Rolls and opened the trunk. Morgan was inside, still snoring away, blissfully unaware of what had happened since Chuck had put him under with the peppermint flavored knockout spray. Sarah moved to him and, without warning, slapped him as hard as she could, even harder than she had slapped Bryce.

"Hey! What was that for?" She didn't answer; instead, she grabbed his face with both hands and planted one right on him. It was just as passionate as their kiss on the docks by the 'bomb', but instead of desperation it was full of relief. Recovering from the shock of the slap, he wrapped his arms around her and returned the kiss with equal passion.

"Ahem," Casey cleared his throat. "When you two are done with your game of tonsil hockey, we still have a lot of work to do."

Chuck and Sarah broke the kiss and just held each other for a little longer.

"What do you need us to do, Casey?" Sarah asked.

"Walker, you call your CIA pals and get them to send another Herder to replace the one Moron here blew up. Bartowski, let's get your buddy to Walker's car."

"Right away," Chuck said.

"Nice car, by the way, Walker. Did you get it from Wang's garage?"

"I did. Right after I was finished dealing with Smooth Lau."

"She did that to you?" Chuck asked about her battered but still lovely face.

"It's nothing compared to what I did to her."

A short time later everything was squared away. Sarah and Casey had had the presence of mind to have a duplicate of Chuck's Herder in a CIA garage just in case. When it was brought courtesy of the cleaners, Morgan was loaded in it and Chuck took him back to the Buy More. A paramedic treated Sarah's injuries, while Casey was overseeing the cleanup at the scene.

At the Buy More Morgan had finally come to and fortunately he didn't delve much into the events he'd missed. But he did get together again with Anna. Meanwhile, Jeffster gave an impromptu concert inside the store, auditioning for Devon and Ellie's wedding. Not that they stood any chance of being selected, but, as Devon put it, they might as well let them have their five minutes. Casey, naturally, didn't like it at all and put on a pair of earplugs. Morgan moved with Anna next to Chuck and Sarah and expressed his delight at both of them having girlfriends. Upon hearing that comment, Chuck and Sarah looked meaningfully at each other and laced their fingers together. Sarah had one more thing left to do.

"I wanted to apologize," she told Chuck, loudly, in order to be heard above the din of Jeffster's music. "I could have been more sensitive before about your friendship with Morgan. It's just - it's difficult. I didn't really have anyone in my life who cared about me."

"Yeah, but you do now," replied Chuck. She thanked him with a warm smile. When Jeff and Lester finished the song, the audience dispersed. Chuck and Sarah headed for the exit and ran into Ellie and Devon.

"Well, sis, what did you think? Do they have a chance to play at your wedding?"

"Not a snowball's chance in Hell," Ellie replied with conviction. And then she saw Sarah's face. "What happened to you?"

"What? Oh, it's nothing?"

"Nothing? You've got cuts and bruises all over your face, so don't tell me it's nothing!"

"Ellie, really, I'm fine," Sarah insisted, walking towards the Orange Orange with Chuck. She definitely didn't want to have this conversation in public. Inside the yogurt shop Ellie resumed the interrogation.

"What did my idiot brother do again?"

"Ellie, why do you have to assume it's always me?" Chuck protested.

"Because I know you, Chuck. You are not an abusive boyfriend, but you can be very clumsy sometimes."

"Well, this time I wasn't even within a ten block radius of Sarah when she got hurt." It was true. While Sarah and Smooth Lau had been going kung-fu on each other Chuck was chasing after the ambassador's Rolls to save both him and Morgan.

"Ellie," Sarah said. "Just what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that you appear to get hurt quite frequently. Case in point: Remember the day after you and Chuck went to tango? You came for dinner with an injured lip."

"It wasn't Chuck's fault. The freezer door had gotten stuck at the Wienerlicious and I pulled a little too hard to open it and it hit me in the face when I finally managed to get it open."

"Okay. What about the day Devon proposed to me? You did say that you and Chuck had tripped over each other."

"Half of the responsibility for that is mine. It's unfair to place all the blame for it on Chuck."

"And when you ended up in the hospital with a concussion?"

"Chuck was nowhere near me when it happened," she lied. "I fell down some stairs when one of my heels broke, remember?"

"What about the holidays?" Ellie insisted. "You somehow got a bruise on your face back then."

"That was Casey. He jerked from the pain in his foot as I was helping him outside and accidentally hit me."

"I can believe that."

"Good. Anything else?"

"No… Wait! Yes, there was one more time. A couple more times, to be precise."

"What are you talking about, Ellie?"

"There was the day after game night for one. You had traces of a bloody nose."

"That was my sister."

"Your what?"

"My older sister was passing through town and we boxed around a bit. We sometimes do that." It was the whole truth this time.

"This one is hard to believe, but for some reason I do."

"Good."

"One more thing."

"What?"

"Your high school reunion."

"Catfight in the showers with a former classmate," Sarah said, remembering Chuck's idea for an excuse. "I won the bet, by the way." Chuck and Devon fought hard to suppress laughs.

"And today?" Ellie would simply not let go.

"I just happened to go through a pane of glass."

"And how did that happen?"

"Another lady tripped and bumped into me, while I was out shopping."

"Oh, I see. Sorry for the interrogation, but I really had to get some answers."

"No problem. Now that it's all resolved, I can get us all some yogurt."

"Good idea honey," Chuck said approvingly.

"That would be awesome," agreed Devon, who until then had kept quiet, observing the conversation with interest.

"Sarah," Chuck said suddenly, "your nose is bleeding again."

"Oh. It's nothing, I'll fix it in a second," she said and ripped a small piece off a napkin before stuffing it up a nostril.

"Don't you have any cotton wool around?" Devon asked. "I'm sure it'll do a better job."

"There must be some in the first aid cabinet."

"I have a better idea," Chuck interjected.

"Let's hear it."

"Uh, um, it's, well," he stammered, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Spill it," Sarah commanded.

"Feminine products," he blurted out.

"You are telling me to stick a tampon up my nose?"

"It makes sense," Ellie said. "These things are really absorbent."

"Good call, bro," said Devon. "Where did you get the idea?"

"From a film adaptation of one of Shakespeare's plays," replied Chuck and winked at Ellie.

"He means the movie we watched together the other day," Ellie clarified. The movie, She's The Man, had been her choice, after all.

"I remember now," Sarah laughed. They made small talk and enjoyed some yogurt after Ellie took another look at Sarah's nose just in case. When Devon and Ellie left to go home, both Chuck and Sarah breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good job, you two," Casey said, emerging from the Castle. "But did you really have to blame me for the bruise Mauser gave you?"

"She couldn't exactly tell the truth. Plus her explanation was believable."

"No argument there. But it was close. We can't afford them getting suspicious."

"Uh-huh," Sarah agreed.

"Is there anything else, Casey? I'd like to take my girl home for some TLC."

"Can't you keep it in your pants for a few minutes, Moron? Same goes for you, Walker."

Chuck and Sarah pointedly ignored him as they made their way out of the Double O and got into her Porsche, leaving the new Herder 3 for Casey to drive back to Echo Park. They had a good laugh during the drive when Chuck pointed out her attraction to sports cars, referring to the AC Cobra she'd driven earlier, an attraction she did not deny.

Back in his apartment, as the adrenaline from the excitement of the day wore off, Sarah was overcome by fatigue and she fell asleep cuddled to him on the couch during the after dinner movie. When said movie ended, he gently carried her to his room, undressed her, put one of his large T-shirts on her and tucked her in before himself changing into sleepwear and getting into bed.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N:** First of all, I'd like to thank you all again for your encouragement.

This chapter is my attempt to make light of the situation after the Beefcake and Lethal Weapon episodes.

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Cast**

"Looks like we're finally done here," said a relieved Sarah.

"*grunt* (finally). You must be happy we are sending him back home to jolly old England."

"He's Scottish."

"Excuse me?"

"Cole's Scottish, from Edinburgh."

"How do you know that?"

"I read his file when Beckman sent it," Sarah shrugged. She then saw the look Casey was giving her. "What?"

"And when you were sucking faces with him downstairs in Castle?"

"_He_ kissed me. I didn't respond."

"I think the Moron may have seen that, and if taken out of context…"

"What do you mean, Casey?"

"Have you forgotten that your geek sex toy has memorized the Castle manual? He saw you on the cash register screen. He also saw it when the Limey exposed himself to you."

"First of all, don't talk about my Nerd like that. And secondly, I think he's smart enough to realize that I only have eyes for him."

"He's not yet over his insecurities, Walker. If I were you, I'd start getting ready for a breakup."

"Hah! As if!" Sarah snorted.

"Come on, I'll give you a ride to your place."

"I want to see how Chuck's doing."

"Right. You want to play nursemaid to him."

"He was hurt saving us from Fulcrum, Casey! So was Cole, but Chuck is not trained for this."

"He got clipped by a window sill, for fuck's sakes, Walker! It's as ridiculous as it sounds."

"It could have happened to anybody," Sarah said stubbornly.

"It happened to him and it would have been hilarious, correction, even more hilarious, had the situation not been so grave at the time."

"Casey!"

"Fine, fine. So, how do you plan to nurse him back to full health, Sister Walker?"

"What did I say before about making fun of Chuck and his relationship with me?"

"OK, I'll drop the subject."

"Too bad it's too late to swing by the Castle," Sarah mused quietly, looking out the passenger side window, but Casey heard her.

"You want to raid the wardrobe for a nurse's uniform," he said flatly. "It's my fault for giving you ideas. In addition, such an action would constitute misuse of government property for personal entertainment." Sarah blushed and did not respond to the comment. Casey had read her mind. She would have loved to surprise Chuck tonight dressed as a nurse (with some of her skimpiest, sexiest lingerie under the uniform). If only she'd thought of it earlier… During the rest of the drive she thought about her conversation with Chuck in the courtyard, before Casey called her to help him in providing additional security for Cole's departure. Chuck had been right. They should move in together when they felt they were ready to take that step, on their own terms and not because of orders. Besides, there was no rush. She was already spending many nights at his place (i.e. in his bed) anyway.

Casey parked the Crown Vic in its usual spot, retrieved his backpack from the trunk and grunted goodnight to Sarah. She went to Chuck's apartment and knocked. Ellie opened the door.

"Hi Sarah," she beamed.

"Hi Ellie, how's Chuck?"

"He's sulking in his room."

"Is he OK?"

"He is. I just gave him a lecture on being more careful while on Nerd Herd installs. Clipped by a window sill… That's a new low even for that klutz baby brother of mine."

"Cut him some slack, Ellie. It was an accident; a stupid one, but still an accident. Could happen to anyone."

"Yeah, whatever," Ellie said tiredly.

"I'll go see him now."

"Hey babe," Devon called from their room, "have you seen my… Never mind, just found it. Oh, hi Sarah."

"Hi Devon." Sarah noticed that Devon was still in his hospital scrubs. Some say genius is a zigzag of lightning across the brain. At that precise moment Sarah couldn't agree more, for she knew exactly what genius was.

"Sarah, are you all right?" Ellie asked concernedly. "You zoned out for a moment."

"Uh, what? Oh, yes, I'm fine. Say, Ellie, can I talk to you in private for a sec?"

"Sure, what can I do for you?"

"Do you have some clean scrubs I can borrow for tonight?"

"What do you need them for?" Ellie asked, curious. Sarah had the decency to blush and look away.

"I wanted to, um," she stammered. "I mean, I thought it would be a good idea to…"

"To go into my brother's room dressed as a doctor," Ellie finished the phrase as she realized what Sarah wanted.

"I thought it might cheer him up," Sarah said, her confidence returning.

"It would definitely be funny," Ellie chuckled. She didn't yet realize that Sarah had rather kinkier things in mind. It would come to her later, when she and Devon would be getting ready for bed.

"Glad you think so," said Sarah with a huge smile.

"Come on, I have everything you might need." She took Sarah by the hand and took her to the bedroom. Fortunately Devon had gone to the living room after finding whatever he'd been looking for. Ellie opened a drawer and started pulling stuff out. "The scrubs are in here. Top, check; pants, check. Here you go."

"Thanks."

"Wait!"

"What?"

"Take these too," Ellie said, giving Sarah a stethoscope and a thermometer. "You'll look more convincing that way."

"Ellie, you are a genius!" Sarah enthused.

"Thanks. And please make sure that he takes his Ibuprofen."

"I'll force the pills down his throat, if I have to," Sarah promised.

"I was kinda hoping you wouldn't have to resort to extreme measures, but just do whatever it takes."

"I will."

Sarah first went to the bathroom to change and then to Chuck's room and knocked.

"Come in," he called. She opened the door and walked in. Chuck caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye.

"What is it, sis?" He didn't look up from whatever he was doing. He was sitting on his bed, the injured left foot propped up.

"I'm not Ellie."

"Sarah?" His head snapped up to look at her. "What are you doing in Ellie's scrubs?"

"I came to make sure you get proper care," she said sweetly.

"Ah, another doctor who speaks softly while carrying a big rectal thermometer," Chuck waxed theatrically.

"You mean this?" She showed him the thermometer she'd been hiding behind her back.

"Uh-oh…" Chuck said, feigning panic.

"If you are a good boy and take your pills I won't have to use it," she said.

"I surrender," he said and took his painkillers, washing them down with a glass of water.

"You'll be feeling a lot better in no time at all," she said, tweaking his big toe that protruded from the cast. As she pulled his desk chair close to the bed and sat down in it Chuck noticed that she seemed to be wearing absolutely nothing underneath her scrubs. His eyes flew wide and he gulped hard with the realization of her intentions.

"Somehow I don't doubt that," he squeaked.

"Look, Chuck, I want to be completely honest with you. I hated to have to do what I did to get Cole's belt buckle when we still thought he was Fulcrum."

"I know. I could see it in your eyes before you put your game face on. And seeing you in your undies and high heels while holding a gun on Cole… that was totally hot."

"You think so?"

"Aw, c'mon! You were like something right out of a gun calendar! I firmly believe that even Casey would have been turned on if he saw you."

"This time flattery _will_ get you somewhere, Chuck."

"Thanks," he said. "I have just one question."

"Shoot."

"When Cole kissed you…"

"Chuck, if you let me explain…"

"Explain just one thing: I know you didn't reciprocate, but why didn't you slap him like you did with Bryce?"

"I didn't want to cause an international incident," she said lamely.

"Oh. I didn't think of it that way."

"Silly Chuck," she said and leaned in to kiss him. While doing so she noticed what was on the bed. "What is this?"

"What, this? It's my Tron poster."

"I'm talking about the backing, Chuck."

"Oh, that. Well, it's my super-secret spy scrapbook."

"You have my official ID photo," she said, pointing at a copy of her CIA ID, which was pasted in the middle of a huge red heart.

"I like the way you wear your hair in that photo," he admitted. She also saw Casey's photo, superimposed on an image of a Ford Crown Victoria and Carina's, pasted beside a photo of the diamond they had stolen on their joint mission.

"Thanks," she said.

"The rest of it is like a diary. It also helps in my quest to figure out a way to get the Intersect out of my head."

"You do realize all that stuff is classified, right?"

"So am I, baby, so am I."

"Good point. The heart is a bit over the top though."

"Nah, it's just another manifestation of my love for you." *kiss*

As they were kissing, Chuck took her in his arms and leaned down to deepen the kiss. But as he rolled her on to the bed, her legs pressed on his left foot.

"OW!" Chuck exclaimed.

"Chuck? Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"I'm to blame for this. I got a bit carried away."

"Hmm, OK. Ellie did a great job with the cast though."

"Well, about that… As I told Morgan, given how overprotective she is of me, I'm lucky it wasn't a full body cast," he joked, but suddenly Sarah paled visibly. He noticed it and was very concerned. "Sarah? What happened? Talk to me!"

"Nothing," she replied hastily, her voice trembling a little.

"Tell me. It'll help, trust me."

"When you mentioned the full body cast I remembered the body brace I had to wear before we met, when I was hospitalized after Afghanistan."

"You're fine now and that's all that matters, Sarah."

"Thanks. But tonight _I_ am supposed to be the doctor."

"And what is your prognosis on my condition, Dr. Walker?"

"You'll make a full recovery, faster if you behave and pain-free if you take your medication in a timely fashion, Mr. Bartowski."

"Am I going to get a lollipop if I behave, Doctor?"

"No."

"No?"

"You'll get something better."

"Like what?"

"Like, oh, I don't know… Sarah Walker, perhaps?"

"Now that's a first-class incentive. I took my medication, so I expect my reward."

Sarah didn't reply at first. She got off the bed, careful to avoid contact with Chuck's cast and locked the door. She then spared a few seconds to confirm that her privacy device was on, before seductively moving towards Chuck.

"You'll also need some 'physical therapy', which I'll be more than happy to provide," she whispered in his ear. His face was split by a huge smile as he again took her in his arms and started peeling the blue scrubs off of her.

Later he lay on his back, hands clasped behind his head, looking at the ceiling, a satisfied grin on his face, while Sarah was snoring lightly, almost inaudibly, her head resting on his chest, an arm around him and one of her legs wrapped around his own. He placed an arm around her shoulders and lightly kissed her on the top of her head before closing his eyes and letting himself fall asleep.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N:** Here is my editing of some of my favorite scenes from the Predator episode and an ending consistent with the AU.

* * *

_I love the smell of Burbank in the morning; smells like victory  
Big Mike_

**Chuck & Sarah vs Beckman**

Chuck, Sarah and Casey shuffled tiredly into the courtyard of the apartment complex where the two men lived (and Sarah was a regular visitor to both their apartments, Casey's for business and Chuck's for pleasure). They were all wearing grimy, dirty and stinking workers' coveralls. The top half of Sarah's coveralls was off and tied around her waist as she balanced a huge pipe wrench on one shoulder and held a drain cleaner tool in her other hand. Her hair was in a messy bun and her face smeared with grime. Casey was also carrying an equipment bag and Chuck a metal tool case.

"Guys, I have to say this," groaned Chuck, "we should never do that again."

"Mission's over, Chuck," replied Casey. "The plan went just fine."

"Yeah, except that your plan necessitated that we do actual plumbing and, for the record, none of us knows how to actually plumb. We're gonna burn these jumpsuits, right?"  
"I second Chuck's motion. No more plumbing on future missions," said Sarah.

"Why, are you going soft, Walker?" Casey teased. "Nah, it doesn't matter. Beckman got the intel she wanted," he said, showing a shrink-wrapped package containing their objective. "Bunch of nancies," he added derisively before heading to his place.

"You need to change at Casey's?" Sarah asked, turning to her boyfriend.

"Huh? Oh, no, thanks. Actually Ellie and Awesome are out of town looking for a wedding site, so I'm good to shower a couple hundred times."

"Ah, OK," Sarah laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sarah, have you heard anything from Beckman about Orion?"

"Uh, not yet… these things take time."

"Gotcha, OK," he said, visibly disappointed. "She gets how important it is though, right? I mean, you know, if we can find Orion, then maybe I can get all these secrets out of my head and go back to my old life." They both knew that by 'old life' he meant no Intersect but definitely lots of Sarah.

"She gets it, Chuck, we all do," she said encouragingly.

"You want that too, right?"

"Of course I do, Chuck." She really wanted the same thing. She wanted to live a normal life with Chuck. "Of course, I mean, you deserve that."

"Great… great, huh, uh, that's great. I mean, I've only seen a little bit of Beckman's office behind the chair, but I can only imagine she's got a whole crack squad of brilliant analysts working hard trying to find Orion in the next room."

"Chuck, leave the search for Orion up to the team of brilliant analysts. We need to get some sleep." She smiled and Chuck gave her a short casual salute and turned to go to his apartment. They wouldn't kiss, not when they were dirty like this. Suddenly, she had an idea. "Chuck," she called after him.

"Yes?"

"I think I need to shower a couple hundred times too. I mean, I'm not getting into my baby like this," she said, meaning her Porsche.

"You are welcome to join me," he said, smiling despite being tired.

"Maybe we can work on our… plumbing skills," she said suggestively.

"Ugh, please, your thing gets more disgusting with every passing day," Casey said as he was taking out the garbage. Chuck and Sarah just laughed and disappeared inside the apartment.

Later, as Sarah was sound asleep, exhausted but content, Chuck was staring at his chart on the back of the Tron poster, trying to see any connection he might have missed. His computer was running an automated web search for clues pertaining to Orion. He had made the search bot himself. Suddenly a beeping sound made him turn around.

"Why are you on?" The question was directed at his webcam, which was on, for some mysterious reason. Fortunately, he blocked most of its field of view and Sarah was huddled under the covers. He tapped it to see if it was just a glitch.

Unbeknownst to Chuck, it was not a glitch. Half a world away, in Hong Kong, a man was watching him. He smiled when he saw Sarah's blonde mane, which was just visible behind Chuck's shoulder. He was in the act of typing something when a noise prompted him to close the window he was working on and type a command on a wrist computer. The Fulcrum team that was coming after him was in for a very nasty surprise.

When Chuck went to work in the morning, he and the others found the store swathed in toilet paper. He and the rest of the crew faced off with Barclay, the conceited Ass Man of the Beverly Hills branch, which had a long-running feud with the Burbank Buy More, and his cronies. Barclay was miffed because the Burbank branch would be the first to get the new and eagerly awaited Roark Instruments R7 gaming laptop.

Chuck made a mental note to ask Sarah and Casey how secure the access points to Castle were on occasions like this. But soon he had more important things in mind. He was contacted by none other than Orion on his workstation computer, who promised to send another, secure computer to establish communications.

"Hey Chuck," Sarah said, coming up behind him.

"Aaah!" Chuck was understandably startled. "Oh, uh, hi, hi Sarah."

"What? What is it?" His behavior told her that something was wrong.

"Um, there's something I should probably tell you…"

General Beckman had kittens when Chuck told her that he had made contact with the elusive Orion and ordered the computer he was sending Chuck be placed under lock and key. Said computer was delivered to the Buy More, where Lester accepted the delivery, thinking it was the new R7 laptop. So he, Jeff and Morgan convened at Jeff's 'office', a converted stall in the men's restroom, to play with the much touted new gaming rig they believed they had gotten their hands on.

Chuck and Sarah rushed back to the Buy More and checked the delivery logs, but came up dry.

"Chuck, why didn't you tell me?"

"Uh…"

"Chuck, your search for Orion was a rogue operation. Do you know how dangerous that is? VERY." She didn't mean to come down so hard on him, but she was really worried. It was obvious by the way she was fidgeting.

"And I didn't tell you."

"And you didn't tell me."

"OK, you are right, completely and totally right. But, Sarah, I want to get that thing out of my head, so that I can go back to my old life and be with you without the distractions of the spy world. Do you really think the NSA and the CIA are going to be cool with that?"

"You should have trusted me," she said bitterly. She would have helped him in any way she could if he had let her in on the secret.

Casey called them back to Castle and told them that a Predator drone was diverted to target the Buy More. He believed Orion wanted to take Chuck out. He and Sarah went to trigger an evacuation of the store, when Chuck informed them that there had been a targeting change. The new target was the Beverly Hills Buy More. He realized that the Orion laptop had somehow ended up in Morgan's hands and informed the others.

"No sign of Morgan, Jeff or Lester. Those morons have the computer, don't they?" Casey asked angrily. "Which one dies first?"

Chuck managed to get in touch with Morgan, reacquire the computer and abort the attack on the Beverly Hills branch in the nick of time. It was then that Sarah and an angry Casey burst into the men's room.

"Just one of them," he said, wanting to take it all out on someone.

"No," Sarah said.

"Sarah," whispered Chuck, "you are in the little boys' room…"

"Oh," she said, her eyes widening with understanding and scooted out.

From there the complications just continued. Big Mike thought that the Orion Laptop was the R7 and locked it in his office safe, assigning Emmett to stand guard for the night. To get it back two teams sneaked into the Buy More after hours. One was Chuck, Sarah and Casey and the other consisted of Jeff and Lester. Plus a Fulcrum agent was also there to crash the party. Eventually Team Chuck got the laptop and a dead, as they thought, Vincent Smith.

To top it all, Beckman was coming over to take the laptop back to DC herself. Chuck wanted to meet with her, but she had left specific instructions to meet only with Sarah and Casey.  
Orion contacted Chuck again and verified he was the real McCoy and not an impersonator working for Fulcrum. Orion also showed him surveillance from Casey's apartment and he saw that Beckman wanted him to remain the Intersect, despite Sarah's valiant but unsuccessful attempt to convince her to help in finding a way to relieve him of his burden. For a fleeting second he thought that Orion was right in telling him he couldn't trust his handlers. But then he saw the disappointment and pain in Sarah's face and realized that she would do anything for him. He was going to trust her, no matter what.

After meeting Beckman in person

Orion's farewell message had just finished playing and the disc had self-destructed, when Sarah knocked on the Morgan Door and entered.

"Hi," she said.

"She was wrong, you know. I'm not a spy," he said without preamble, referring to Beckman's decree that he was a spy until she decided otherwise.

"Look, Beckman is a soldier and she sees things in black and white. But she is right about one thing: we are in the middle of a fight with Fulcrum." She was sad as she made the admission and sat down on his bed. She had to be strong for both of them, no matter how much she wanted to cry, seeing him so unhappy.

"Yeah, uh, I get that. I do. But this is not my future. This is what I'm doing right now. But I will get my life back."

"Yeah, of course you will, Chuck. We're still a good team, right? You still trust us?"

"I trust you. Of course I do," he said. She had to restrain herself from cheering out loud.

"I'm on your side, Chuck."

"I know."

"Well, I'd better go."

"Yeah… yeah, I'm a little beat."

"OK." She smiled encouragingly and turned to leave.

"Sarah, wait!"

"What is it, Chuck?"

"Do you have a few minutes?"

"Yes, I always have time for you."

Meanwhile, in Castle, the General was expressing her reservations as to how dedicated Sarah was to the mission. Casey told her that his partner was 100% aboard and any attempt to alter the team dynamics would result in unnecessary complications. He even went so far as to remind her that both she and the late Langston Graham had allowed Sarah to continue her personal relationship with Chuck when the whole Intersect business started. He only hoped that he'd managed to convince her not to do a 49B.

Back in Chuck's room…

"Turn the privacy device on," he said.

"Chuck, we are both tired and…"

"It's not what you think, but we need to talk."

"Okay. It's on."

"Sarah, Orion gave me access to the cameras in Casey's place. I'd like to thank you for standing up for me with Beckman. But, but… why did you…"

"Why did I acknowledge her orders?"

"Yes."

"It was the only thing I could do, Chuck. Otherwise she might see fit to reassign me, in which case I wouldn't be able to protect you as I do now even if she kept Graham's promise to allow me to stay in LA, or she could even fire me. And I wouldn't trust anyone else to take my place as your handler. As I already said, we are a good team. And I will support you in any way I can, so that you will get the Intersect out of your head someday. In the meantime, you'll just have to come to terms with having to see me all the time." The last part was said with a tight smile.

"Somehow I think that's not going to be too unpleasant, Agent Walker."

"Hold me," she said. He hugged her and held her lovingly. They would get through all this together.

"I have something else to tell you, but promise me not to tell Casey or Beckman."

"I promise."

"Orion gave me these to study." He showed her the Intersect schematics.

"Chuck, I can't make heads or tails out of it."

"Fortunately for us, I can. Hopefully I'll manage to find a way to delete the damn thing from my brain. And then I can tell Beckman to sho-"

"Shhh… When did you get a dirty mouth anyway?"

"For a tiny person she sure has ways to bring out the worst in people," he said.

"That she does," Sarah agreed. "For now get some rest. You need it."

"So do you. Stay with me?"

"If you promise me that all we'll do is sleep."

"We'll just sleep. The fun stuff can wait."

"It's much more fun when we are not like zombies from exhaustion."

"Oh, I don't know… As I recall you were a real tigress in the shower the other night."

"Grrr," she growled playfully and clawed at him.

"But if we are to get a quality repeat of that, we need a few hours' solid sleep."

"I'll second the motion," she yawned.

"So, which T-shirt do you want? The Stanford one, or the Nerd Herd one?"

"I'll take the second one." Within minutes they were in bed, sound asleep in each other's arms.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N:** Nice to see you are still enjoying this. Without further ado, chapter 25. The Broken Heart episode needed some tinkering to get it to fit in this AU, but looks OK now, at least to me. I can only hope you'll think the same. Oh, there are many references to 'Chuck & Sarah vs a Different Beginning' too.

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Old Case**

Sarah found Morgan's, Jeff's and Lester's attempt to do a kidnapping rehearsal on Chuck in order to prepare to be self-invited to Awesome's bachelor party very funny. Of course Casey chasing the Trio Stooges away with the garden hose was hilarious and captured for posterity by the courtyard surveillance cameras in high definition color and high quality audio. She would ask her partner for copies of the relevant DVDs (and also ask Chuck to edit the footage into an enjoyable short video) after the quick mission they had to undertake.

Said mission lasted until well after midnight. Not quite a record, their shortest mission having lasted just three hours, but not an all-nighter either. Chuck and Sarah sneaked back through the Morgan Door, their departure and return unnoticed by Ellie and Devon. Having handed their mission gear over to Casey they decided on a quick shower together. Chuck then returned to his room to study the Intersect schematics, while Sarah performed the feminine ritual of using after shower moisturizing products. He was still waiting for her to come to bed when something unexpected happened.

*beep*

"Chuck." He looked around to see where the voice calling his name had come from. He even checked his iPhone. "Ahem," the familiar voice continued. "Bartowski." Chuck's gaze followed the sound to his bedroom TV. When he saw who was calling he jumped noticeably.

"General! Hey! What are you…?"

"I wanted a private word with you. Pardon the intrusion."

"On this moment, or my life in General?" Chuck asked, somewhat annoyed at not being able to find peace even in his own room.

"I'd like to know if your relationship with Agent Walker has the potential to compromise your job performance."

"How do you mean? What's that mean?"

"I know that your situation is… complicated, to say the least. But has it gotten too complicated?"

"What, with Sarah? No, no and no. Sarah Walker is a pleasure to work with, a delight even."

"I want facts. I don't care about your feelings."

"Feelings? What feelings? Can you please clarify?"

"These feelings," Beckman said and played him videos of him and Sarah talking about their relationship. "My job is to make sure you are protected without interloping emotional complications from my team. But I guess it's too late for that now, has been from the start. What I want to know is this: can you do your job when an agent other than your handlers is in charge of a mission?"

"If it's for a single mission, I guess I can. Sarah and Casey will still be participating, right?"

Before Beckman had a chance to answer Sarah entered the room wearing a bathrobe and carrying a small tray.

"I got hungry and made some sandwiches in the kitchen," she said around a mouthful of food. "I hope you are hungry too, as I made enough for two."

"Sarah…"

"Hey, anything good on TV?" Sarah asked, putting the tray down on the nightstand and turning to the TV. "What are you watch-… GENERAL? ! ?"

"Hello, Agent Walker. I was just having a job related discussion with Chuck," the General said. All color drained from Sarah's face at first and then she blushed beet red, pulling the bathrobe closed tighter and covering every millimeter of exposed skin up to her chin. "We were just about done, so carry on," continued Beckman.

"Uh, OK, I mean, um, yes ma'am," Sarah stammered. The connection was terminated. "What was all that about?"

"She wanted to ask me something."

"What?"

"If I could still do my job if she put had another agent in charge of a mission."

"You can, right?"

"Sure I can, but I wonder if said agent will be briefed on, you know… _it_," he said, tapping the side of his head.

"Not likely," she concluded, her mind shifting into high gear as she pondered what mission would require an outsider as an AIC.

"Your sandwiches are excellent, by the way," he said. He then noticed that she appeared to be deep in concentration "What?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about what kind of mission she has in store for us."

"We'll soon find out," he replied and grabbed another sandwich from the tray. Sarah put on her sleepwear and slipped under the covers beside Chuck. He finished off the last sandwich, licked his fingers, wiped them clean on a napkin and burrowed under the covers after turning off the lights. Sarah automatically snuggled up against him.

In the morning Chuck was rudely awoken by Captain Awesome, who knocked and entered the room holding a pitcher filled with a green slop. For some reason Sarah was still sound asleep.

"Chuckster," he said cheerfully, "time to flush out your system, dude." He shoved the pitcher under Chuck's nose.

"Uh, oh, no, I'm good with my clog," he said after a short whiff. He then proceeded to ask Devon about his bachelor party, when Ellie interrupted them with the news that the letter he'd sent to their father had been returned as the recipient had not been found. He promised to keep trying though, although Ellie was not very optimistic. At that point Sarah woke up.

"What's that stench?" She asked the question as Devon was kissing Ellie after promising to behave at his bachelor party.

"Oh, yuck, what is that?" Ellie inquired about the foul taste the kiss left in her mouth.

"That is the taste of a healthy colon," replied her fiancé.

"Sarah could use some of that," Ellie mumbled before fleeing to the bathroom to get some mouthwash and swill the awful taste away.

"What did she say?" Sarah asked.

"You know, Sarah, for your, um, spastic colon," Devon said.

"Chuck, I'll kill you, I swear. Devon, I don't have a spastic colon. You can tell that to Ellie too. It was a stupid excuse Chuck invented to cover for me once. Wait, that's why Ellie wouldn't let me anywhere near her seven layer dip? It all makes sense now," Sarah said. Chuck and Devon just exchanged meaningful looks. Then Awesome noticed the screen of Chuck's TV. Something about a conference with a General Beckman, terminated at 0222 hours.

"Who's General Beckman?" Chuck and Sarah were both horrified. This could seriously compromise their covers. Fortunately Chuck had found a way to cover it all up.

"Video game stuff." He hoped that his explanation of it being related to a video game he was playing with Morgan was believable. Devon seemed to believe it, which was quite a relief. But when he asked about Chuck's character, he received the reply that Chuck was 'Special Agent Carmichael'. Unfortunately, the teleconference software recognized the name and patched him through to the General's office. Chuck was quick enough to turn the TV off before Devon saw the General.

"That was close," Chuck said after Awesome had left.

"Tell me about it," Sarah said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind and rested her chin on his shoulder. "We were this close to getting our covers blown once and for all."

"Devon would tell Ellie and she'd kill us both."

"She would too," Sarah agreed. "Come on, let's get ready for work."

Chuck went to the Buy More and Sarah to the Double O as usual. A little later she sent him a text. They had a briefing to attend in a few minutes.

"Hey Sarah," he said as he entered, "any news as to our new mission?" The blonde working behind the counter turned to face him. It was not Sarah. Chuck promptly flashed on her file. According to the Intersect information she was a damn good agent.

"I'm Agent Alex Forrest," the woman introduced herself. "General Beckman sent me. I'm the AIC for your new mission."

At their secret base downstairs the entire gang, plus the newly arrived Alex Forrest were gathered for the briefing by the General.

"I'm sure you've all had the chance to welcome Agent Alex Forrest," she said.

"Of course, General," Sarah replied.

"And on to the matter at hand; we're all familiar with the elusive leader of a terrorist group, who's been hiding in the Afghani caves for years; Hassan Khalid."

"I dream of finding him," Casey and Alex said in unison, as the terrorist's image appeared on a screen. Chuck looked back and forth between the two agents and then glanced at Sarah. She had stiffened and clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white. Chuck knew why. Khalid was behind the rocket attack on FOB Gloria, where Sarah had been hurt. It was not a pleasant memory for her. Casey was itching to get some payback and Forrest wanted to catch him as it had been her assignment for a long time, ever since she had replaced Sarah in Afghanistan.

General Beckman then explained the mission. One of Khalid's closest associates, Rashad Ahmad, was believed to be on banking business for Khalid in the US and had to be hospitalized under an alias due to a heart attack. Team Chuck's mission was to ascertain if Harry Lime and Rashad Ahmad were indeed the same person.

Sarah's behavior baffled Chuck. She acted cold, distant, unemotional. She even mentioned that discussing certain aspects of the mission background history would be a breach of protocol.

"A breach of protocol? Is it possible that someone kidnapped Sarah and replaced her with some kind of soulless replica?" Chuck asked Casey while they were working at the Buy More.

"Let me guess; you want to talk about feelings, Bartowski?"

"Please."

"Wrong. This is between you and Walker and I am not getting involved."

Chuck again had to deal with Morgan, Jeff and Lester who wanted to be at Awesome's bachelor party. He managed to extricate himself from them and headed to the Orange Orange to talk to Sarah.

"Hey," he told her, "does the new girl know about…?" He pointed at his head.

"No, she won't know that top secret information unless it's absolutely necessary."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not gonna happen. She'll do her job, report on the mission and be on her way."

Chuck then told her that he was stressed out because he was trying to find his Dad and have him walk Ellie down the aisle on her wedding and suggested that Sarah look him up in the CIA database. Sarah replied that she could not do that and Forrest added that if she did she could get fired and even prosecuted for misappropriation of government intelligence.

-o-

As it turned out, Harry Lime was being treated at Westside Medical, the same hospital where Ellie and Devon worked. Chuck and Alex went in disguised as a doctor and a nurse. Alex at one point used a tranq dart on a nurse, over Chuck's objections. It was fortunate that Sarah was doing video surveillance, for she spotted Ellie in time to warn the others. Ellie was there because the hospital kept switching her shifts around. Chuck and Alex ducked into a room to avoid her and Chuck promptly flashed on the patient and his personal physician. It indeed was Ahmad and Dr. Zamir. Upon receiving confirmation, Casey tried to break into a secure area in order to plant a bug on the pacemaker intended for Ahmad, but the security was too difficult to bypass.

"Wow, you two are a match made in a very frightening part of heaven," Chuck commented when he heard Casey and Alex talk about how they could get into the restricted area. Unfortunately, the first doctor with an access card they saw was none other than Devon Woodcomb.

Chuck strenuously objected to using Captain Awesome and stealing his key card. Sarah agreed, arguing that the risk of blowing their covers was too great, but were overruled by Casey and Alex. Chuck had an idea. They could throw the bachelor party fro Devon in the Buy More and borrow his card there, use it and return it to him.

So Chuck, Casey, Morgan and Jeffster promptly kidnapped Devon and brought him to the Buy More for the bachelor party. In the meantime, Sarah and Alex were in a teleconference with the General.

"Based on my observations the team can function well even without Agent Walker," Alex said. "We can complete the mission without her."

"Is that your final assessment, Agent Forrest?" Beckman asked,

"It is."

"Agent Walker, since your services are not necessary for the rest of the mission, you can proceed with your recertification and medicals which you are long overdue for."

"General, please, I…"

"Report back to Langley at 0900. You'll return to Burbank in a few days when you're done with the formalities."

"Please take good care of him while I'm gone," Sarah told Alex after the General signed off.

"I'll do my job, if that's what you mean."

"I'll be on my way as soon as I say goodbye to him."

"I don't think so. Chuck is working on my mission now. No distractions for him, that's an order."

Upstairs Casey swiped Devon's wallet, but the card was not in it. Forrest had an idea on how to get it, since he most likely kept it around his neck. Before leaving, Sarah initiated a search for Chuck's Dad on the computer. Alex went in disguised as a stripper and cornered Devon in the home theater room, knocking him out with a tranq dart when he proved uncooperative, ignoring Chuck's protests. She also informed him that Sarah was temporarily off the team.

Sarah had packed and checked to see if she had forgotten anything. She was sad at having to leave without at least talking to Chuck, to reassure him that she'd be back soon. In the meantime, the bug had been planted in the pacemaker, which was now functioning perfectly. Chuck inquired about Sarah's absence and was told that it was a part of the job. Casey and Alex busied themselves with cleaning weapons. Casey thought that the sight of the beautiful blonde with guns was rather arousing. Chuck had been right. These two were indeed a match made in a very frightening part of heaven.

-o-

Devon woke up with a bad hangover and could not find his key card, which immediately made Ellie suspicious of what might have happened at his bachelor party. Devon not remembering anything did not exactly help.

Sarah was driving to LAX for her flight to Virginia when her car terminal beeped, informing her that Stephen Bartowski's address had been found. Immediately she turned to go back to Burbank and notify Chuck. She'd leave him a note before hurrying to catch her flight. Unfortunately, Dr. Zamir discovered the bug and ordered his henchmen to get Devon in order to remove the bug before killing him.

Ellie had gone to the Buy More to find out what had really happened at the bachelor party. Morgan tried to cover for Devon, but she caught Jeff and Lester looking at pictures of her fiancé with Alex and misinterpreted what she was seeing.

-o-

Casey and Alex were still cleaning weapons, unaware of what was going on.

"Can you believe Walker?" Alex asked.

"What about her?" Casey asked in turn.

"Getting all wrapped up in the asset. Clearly her feelings have jeopardized your missions. You must be relieved if she gets reassigned. Things can be professional then."

"Agent Forrest, for the record..." Casey said, getting angry. He would defend his partner, but never got the chance as the computer told them that it had lost the signal from the bug inside Ahmad.

-o-

Chuck was at home, leaving Casey a voicemail and telling him that they needed to give Devon his card back. Zamir's men went to the apartment complex at that moment and Chuck, thinking fast, pretended to be Devon and was taken away. A few minutes later Sarah sneaked in through the Morgan Door to leave the note and saw Chuck's phone on the bed. She immediately realized that something was very wrong and hurried to Castle. She tried to get in, but for security reasons her access had been suspended for the expected duration of her absence. Casey and Alex were frantically trying to figure out what had gone wrong when Sarah contacted them.

"Casey, I can't get in, I don't have access," she said frantically.

"She's off the assignment," Alex reminded him.

"Look," Sarah insisted, "I think Chuck's in trouble!" She held up his iPhone. Casey immediately caught on. "He never goes anywhere without his phone," she said for added emphasis.

"She's right," Casey admitted. "Now, Forrest. What I was going to say earlier. I disagree with your assessment."

"About what?"

"Walker. She's a pro. Not only that. She's the best damn partner I ever had!" He pressed the button to allow Sarah inside.

"I found this when I went to say goodbye to Chuck," Sarah said, quickly coming down the stairs.

"Which directly disobeyed an order. You are off the assignment and supposed to be somewhere else right now."

"Then there's nothing stopping me from kicking your ass!" Sarah said angrily.

Together the three agents figured that the bug must have been discovered and that Chuck's disappearance was not unrelated. They managed to trace him and the terrorists to a bank vault. Zamir discovered that Chuck was not Devon just as Sarah, Casey and Alex arrived and took care of Zamir's goons. But by then Zamir and Chuck were locked inside the vault. Trying to hold the terrorist doctor off, Chuck released nitrous oxide gas, which started filling the vault. Under the influence of the laughing gas, he got Zamir to reveal Khalid's location. Sarah cracked the door open instead of letting Alex blow it off and risking killing Chuck in the explosion.

"Chuck, get up," she said, relieved and happy to see him alive and well.

"Sarah! Is that really you or am I super stoned?"

"Uh, both." They hugged then and there as Casey and Alex cuffed Zamir and led him away.

At the debriefing Beckman reprimanded Sarah for disobeying orders, but Casey and Chuck stood up for her and got the General to admit that it was a good thing Sarah and Chuck were so close. Alex couldn't help but agree as well. She bade her goodbyes and left to go after Khalid, now that his location was known.

"Well, good thing Alex's on her way," said Chuck.

"What do you mean? Sarah asked.

"She's a female Casey, only like he was before he started working with us, before the Sugar Bear came out. Can you imagine what would happen if she stayed?"

"What?"

"Imagine a female Casey with PMS and you'll get the picture."

"Ouch," she admitted.

"Yeah. And if you and Ellie are insufferable when you are PMSing, imagine how she must be."

"Ellie and I are not that bad."

"That's what you think. Ask Devon if you don't believe me," he said facetiously. She punched him lightly on the shoulder, but couldn't help laughing too.

-o-

Chuck was returning Devon's key card when Ellie caught him.

"Uh, no, this isn't what you think," he told her.

"Yes it is, Chuck, it's exactly what I think it is! I can't believe that you are covering for him!"

"Nothing happened at the bachelor party. He didn't do anything. I swear!"

"Chuck, I saw the photos. Okay? I'm sorry I know you're just trying to protect him. Bro code or whatever. But Chuck, I'm your sister! You're supposed to protect me." She turned to leave, but Chuck ran after her and caught her

"Look," he said, "nothing happened. I was there, Casey was there. And about the photos… Devon had a little bit too much to drink and we decided to take the photos and pull a prank on him, okay? Alex needed some convincing to go along with it."

"Chuck, who is Alex?"

"The stripper. Devon had told her that he wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his relationship with you. You were not supposed to see the photos; Devon was. And we'd tell him the truth immediately afterwards."

"Really?"

"Yes. Don't blame him. Blame me and the others. We can do stupid things when drinking and this was one of them. Just make sure he knows."

"I will, thanks little brother."

Chuck then went over to Sarah's and complained that yet again the spy world and his own world had collided with almost disastrous consequences. As they held each other for comfort, she thanked him for helping close a case that had been haunting her for some time now and told him she'd found his Dad's address and took him there in her car.

"I couldn't find him. The man didn't want to be found. I mean if you hadn't illegally accessed the government's master database..." Chuck told her as they stood outside a trailer in the middle of nowhere.

"Chuck, it'll be good to see him," she encouraged him. He knocked, but there was no reply. "I'm sorry," she said. They hugged and were about to kiss when the door opened.

"Dad?" Chuck asked, almost unbelieving when he saw who it was.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N:** I often wondered why Chuck and Sarah didn't do anything after the rehearsal dinner, especially considering the morning's unfinished business from Barstow. This is setting it straight, within the context of the AU.

* * *

_Open bar, I hope  
John Casey_

**Chuck & Sarah vs the ****Best Laid Plans**

Sarah Walker was positively giddy. She excused herself from Ellie Bartowski and Honey Woodcomb and went in search of Chuck. The last couple of days had been hectic. She now regretted not listening to Chuck in the first place. Had she and Casey accompanied him to the Roark Industries campus things would have been a lot smoother. How could she do that, considering that every time she had listened to Chuck and defied orders the outcome had been more than positive? She smiled as she remembered the surveillance footage from inside their secret base: Chuck changing into tactical gear and reminding her of similar scenes in Rambo and Commando (and its Russian remake, Day D); Chuck knocking Casey out with three tranquilizer darts even after he'd been warned that we would find himself in a world of pain and Casey was not known for making idle threats. Saving Chuck from Fulcrum at Roark Instruments. Their frantic search for Orion, who also happened to be Stephen J. Bartowski, had also been interesting to say the least. She was more than certain that Chuck had let Jill walk. He had offered her a deal and he was too good a person to go back on his word, especially since she had atoned for her past sins and provided invaluable assistance.

Sarah sighed and accepted another glass of wine from a waiter. Taking a sip, she recalled her flight with Chuck to Barstow. With hindsight, they should have probably called Casey and told him all about the Black Rock facility. If he had known he would have certainly helped them, maybe even getting Beckman to rescind her order to place Chuck in a bunker and provide backup instead. Not that it mattered any more. They had rescued Chuck's Dad, Chuck himself was Intersect-free and now Casey was enjoying a large scotch and a cigar by the open bar, while talking to Captain Awesome who had learned by accident about Chuck's involvement with the intelligence community.

She swished the rich red liquid around in her glass, watching how the light played on it. She had made a promise to herself on the day Chuck had received his Stanford degree: that she would quit the CIA when the love of her life would be relieved of his burden. Now all she had to do was write and submit her letter of resignation. But that could wait. Sarah needed to celebrate with Chuck after the rehearsal dinner. She chuckled as she thought about the morning's events in that motel in Barstow. When Chuck had abruptly left to go out he had thrown something on the floor. She'd picked it up and seen it was Morgan's IOU. She had been very angry at that moment, but as it transpired it had been for the best. Casey or, worse, Fulcrum could have caught them literally with their pants down. But there had been certain opportunities afterwards where a condom might have come in handy.

That thought made her angry again. She looked around and spotted Morgan Grimes coming out of the men's room. She tossed back the wine in her glass in one gulp and stomped off after her latest mark.

"Hi Morgan," she said sweetly. "Can I have a word with you, in private please?"

"Sure, Sarah," he replied and followed her to a secluded spot. Suddenly, she whirled around and pinned him against a wall.

"Morgan Guillermo Grimes," she said sternly, "I believe it's time for you to make good on your IOU."

"IOU? Sarah, what are you talking about? I never gave you an IOU."

"I'm talking about this," she said, handing him the crumpled note.

"He actually needed it? I thought that he kept it there only for the direst of dire emergencies."

"It was a really dire emergency, Morgan." It was true. Normally, they had a sufficient stock of condoms both in his place and her hotel room. She even had a backup stash in her Porsche, but she'd forgotten to retrieve it when they'd ditched the car. Thus they ended up with Chuck's emergency reserve condom, which however had been filched by Morgan and replaced with an IOU note.

"Oh. Sarah, I'm really sorry."

"It's not enough."

"I see. OK, here, take this," he said, fishing into his pocket and pulling out two condoms. "Which one do you like? Studded or…?"

"I'll take both." She grabbed the two packets from his hand and stuck them in her purse.

"Both? That's highway robbery!"

"Consider it a reparation payment of sorts."

"But…"

"No 'buts', Morgan."

"OK," he said, sufficiently intimidated. "Have fun." At least he had a couple more in case Anna wanted to get freaky.

"Oh, we will."

One thing crossed off of her list, Sarah started planning the next step of tonight's seduction of Chuck: choosing an outfit. She could dress up like a geek, as she'd done when she and Casey had gone to Roark Instruments, glasses and all. Reminding Chuck of their unfinished business from Barstow by wearing the same T-shirt and panties she'd slept in was another option. The final option was to simply allow Chuck to slide his very capable hands under the straps of her blue dress and let it fall off of her. She'd gone completely commando tonight (in fact the only thing she was wearing under the dress was a knife sheath on one thigh) and his reaction would certainly be priceless. She shuddered with desire and delight at the thought. The Barstow outfit could wait until the morning.

For the moment she resumed her role of Ellie's maid of honor and returned to where the others were assembled. She mingled with the happy couple, their in-laws, the other bridesmaids, Devon's brothers and eventually ended up talking to her boyfriend. She didn't tell him anything about her planning to leave the CIA. She wanted to present him with a fait accompli as a surprise gift. She was seriously considering grabbing Chuck and starting the festivities early, in an out of the way storage closet she'd spotted thanks to her agent skills. The problem was getting away, since for twenty minutes now she'd been sandwiched between Ellie and her fiancé and they just wouldn't let go of her.

"Sarah," Devon said when Ellie had to go to the ladies' room, "can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure, what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Well, learning that you, Casey and Chuck are spies was quite a shock to the system," he whispered. "But I have to ask. Was your thing with Chuck fake, like you know…?"

"A cover?"

"Exactly."

"I'm happy to say it was not a cover. In fact I was fully reinstated after Chuck was, um, recruited. What Chuck and I have all this time is very real."

"I'm happy for you both. It's awesome."

"Thanks. Have you seen Chuck anywhere?"

"I think he went to the bar." Devon looked around and spotted Chuck. He was indeed at the bar, talking to Casey.

"I see him, thanks. Excuse me."

"By all means."

Fortunately the dinner was soon over. Casey drove them back to Echo Park and immediately Chuck and Sarah disappeared through the Morgan Door into Chuck's room. Sarah, who was a bit tipsy and until that moment was struggling to keep her hands off of her Nerd couldn't restrain herself any longer.

"You broke me, Sarah," he told her in the morning.

"If it's any consolation, you gave as well as you took."

"It's a small consolation. Good thing my shift at the Buy More isn't supposed to start for another couple of hours."

"You are going to work, today of all days?" Sarah was incredulous.

"Casey and I are going to quit today. This way I can tell Emmett to shove it where the sun doesn't shine."

"You and your dirty mouth," she mock pouted. "What's the deal over there anyway?"

"Morgan explained it all to me. Emmett managed to overthrow Big Mike and he is the manager now."

"I see. I'm going to the bathroom."

When she returned she was dressed exactly as she'd been twenty-four hours ago. The way Chuck's eyes bulged out of their sockets told her that it was a good call to save the Barstow incident outfit for the morning. Taking an extra condom from Morgan had also been a good idea, since they had exhausted Chuck's already depleted stock and her stash was still in the Porsche, which was still where they'd abandoned it.

"We are completely out of condoms now," she said matter-of-factly after the last go.

"Don't worry; I'll get a whole box on my way back."

"I'll have to go get my baby."

"And then we'll have to get ready for the wedding."

"Be sure to be back in top shape, because I have a lot in store for you when the reception is over."

"You are insatiable, Sarah. Have I ever told you that?"

"You have no one to blame for this but yourself. Who knew a Nerd could have this effect on me?"

The best laid plans, et cetera, they were all thinking later. They could not have foreseen that Ted Roark, who'd survived the airstrike in Barstow, would crash the wedding along with his Fulcrum buddies, threatening to kill everybody unless Chuck could deliver the Intersect cube to him. In the end Bryce helped save the day, but in the rush to get to the wedding site he hadn't taken enough ammo, or an extra gun for Sarah, who'd been obliged to use a set of knives she'd found among the wedding gifts. Casey and his Special Forces team finally arrived in the nick of time and took out the Fulcrum agents and Stephen Bartowski caught Roark. But the wedding was ruined in the process.

With a lot of help from Sarah and Casey, plus his hefty spy paycheck, Chuck made it all up to his sister, who'd been devastated by the earlier disaster, completely unaware of what had really happened. In the end she and Devon finally got married. It was the perfect beach wedding. The reception back at the apartment complex was also great. Chuck and Sarah were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Chuck was a bit concerned as he knew she had orders to work on the new Intersect project with Bryce and he had already turned down an analyst's position. Sarah almost blurted out that she was going to quit right there while they were dancing. Fate intervened yet again. Chuck's Dad interrupted them and said that the agent who'd come for Bryce was not legit. Sarah rushed to the Castle to find Casey. She discovered that one of his team was a traitor who'd murdered Roark and three Marines, only sparing Casey because he owed him his life.

Just as Sarah left, Chuck moved to follow her. His father tried to stop him.

"Let her go son. You've done your part."

"Oh, I have to go!"

"No. No, you don't. You are not a spy."

"Dad, I love her!" He didn't want to let her go alone. She and Casey might need help. His father saw it all in his eyes and nodded. He was really proud of his boy.

"I can't follow you, son. But, take this," he said, giving him his wrist computer.

"Thank you."

"Be safe, Charles."

"Thank you," Chuck repeated and left. At Castle he convinced his friends to let him tag along. After all, it was the Intersect and he was a Bartowski.

At the CIA facility they ran into many enemy operatives. Casey and Sarah engaged them in a firefight and Chuck was sent to get help. He had another idea. Accessing the building schematics on his computer, he made his way to the Intersect room through the vents. There he found a mortally wounded Bryce. Just before he died, his old friend told him that Sarah was going to leave the spy business and asked him to destroy the Intersect, lest it fall into the Ring's hands, as he identified the new villain organization, which was a greater threat than the recently neutralized Fulcrum.

Chuck hesitated. He remembered Bryce telling Professor Fleming that Chuck was not cut out for the spy business. He remembered Beckman telling him that he needed to become a spy. He remembered all the times Sarah had encouraged him to live up to his true potential. The decision was easy. He activated the computer and downloaded the new Intersect into his brain before destroying the hardware. With the power gone, the door opened and the surviving Ring agents entered, pushing Sarah and Casey inside as well.

"What did you do?" Miles, the traitor, asked. "WHAT did you do?"

"I destroyed it," Chuck replied defiantly. "You're too late."

"For that you'll die last." Miles moved to the terminal. Chuck locked eyes with Sarah and motioned towards Bryce. She saw him and rushed to his side.

"Bryce… Bryce?" Two men went to move the body. "NO! DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Sarah yelled.

"I'm sorry," Chuck silently mouthed to her.

"There's nothing left," concluded Miles.

"So you lose," Casey said smugly. The Moron had once again done it.

"You should know this: no one stops us. No one ever has," Miles said, moving to face Casey, as his men covered Chuck with their weapons.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked."

"Spies, Agent Walker. The best." He aimed his gun at her head. And then Chuck flashed. It was not the usual information flash. No, this one was a lot more. Bryce had been right; the new computer really was too powerful.

"Sir, you should look at this," one of Miles' men said.

"Chuck did you just flash?" Sarah was dumbfounded. She thought that Chuck was Intersect-free.

"He uploaded it," Miles said, realizing the truth.

"Oh, chuck me," muttered Casey.

"Kill him." Before anyone had the chance to carry out Miles' order, Chuck had knocked their guns from their hands. Sarah and Casey could only watch dumbstruck as Chuck knocked out the Ring agents one after the other.

"Chuck?" Sarah asked when it was all over.

"Guys," Chuck said, looking at his own hands, still not believing what he'd just done. "I know Kung-Fu…"

The next step was to contact General Beckman and bring her up to speed. She was shocked to learn the extent the CIA had been penetrated. Chuck repeated what Bryce had told him: that they were now dealing with an organization known as the Ring and Fulcrum had been a part of it. What shocked Beckman the most was the news that Chuck had been willingly re-Intersected.

"Why did you do it, Chuck?" Sarah asked when they got back to his apartment after a deathly quiet drive in the Vic. "Why did you upload it?"

"Can we talk about this later?" Chuck was sore all over. The Intersect 2.0 kung-fu had played havoc with his muscles and joints.

"No, Chuck, we are going to talk about this now." She needed answers. She was still coming to terms with the night's events. A good friend of theirs had just died. In the end he'd understood and respected Chuck and Sarah's relationship and had helped to save Ellie and all the others.

"Bryce told me to destroy it. I couldn't just do that. It was my Dad's work of a lifetime. I had to preserve it, we needed to have a chance… I was hoping that I could use the information to save you and Casey from any harm… I didn't know about the martial arts stuff…"

"You did all this to protect us?"

"Yes," he said simply.

"Thank you," she said, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'm aware of the cost to you."

"Bryce told me that you weren't going to work with him."

"No, I was going to quit. I wanted a normal life; a normal life with you," she said. He took her in his arms and held her as she cried.

"We are going to be fine," he told her.

"I trust you, Chuck," she said. As she hugged him tighter he groaned. "Chuck? What's wrong?"

"I'm sore all over. Frankly, I should have taken Awesome up on his offer to help me with a workout routine a long time ago."

"I think a massage will help you feel better right now. The other stuff can wait. After all... tomorrow is another day."

"Anything you say, Scarlett," he teased her, only to regret it as she deliberately applied more pressure on his shoulder, causing him to yelp. He was feeling a lot better after the massage. "I love you," he whispered as they got in bed.

"I love you too."


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N:** This is the first of the two chapters in which I'll deal with season 3. I'll try to make it as painless as possible.

Yet again, thank you all for your support.

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the ****Confessions**

The black clad feminine figure stealthily approached room number 832 of the Maison 23 hotel. Entering without making the slightest noise, the intruder stopped to listen for signs of discovery and make sure that no bullet or knife would be flying at her. The only sound was that of a young woman crying. The intruder paused, removing the full face mask and revealing long coppery blond hair and then flicked on the lights. She was greeted by a sorry sight, one that broke her heart. Sarah Walker was curled up on the bed, tightly clutching what looked like a man's shirt and sobbing loudly.

"Sarah?"

"*sob* Carina? *sniffle* What are you doing here?"

"What kind of a stupid question is that? I came to see you. What's wrong? Tell me," Carina said and sat down on the bed beside Sarah, taking her baby sister in her arms just like she used to do when they were kids, when she loved being the protective older sister.

"It's Chuck," Sarah choked out.

"What happened? Is he OK?"

"He dumped meeee," Sarah sobbed and started crying harder, holding on to Carina for dear life and soaking her black outfit with tears.

"HE DID WHAT? I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!" Carina was really angry. "Nobody breaks my baby sister's heart and gets away with it!"

"Please don't," whispered Sarah.

"What did you just say? Sis, are you still in love with him?"

"No."

"Come on, who are you trying to fool here? You are crying your eyes out while holding his shirt. It _is_ his shirt, right? I want the truth," said Carina and Sarah just nodded.

"I'm not over him yet, happy now?"

"Just calm down and tell me exactly what happened."

"It's classified," Sarah said, looking at her sister, her eyes red from crying.

"You are more important to me than state secrets," Carina replied, cupping Sarah's tear streaked cheeks in her hands.

"But these are not the usual secrets," Sarah said lamely.

"I don't care; come on, it'll do you a lot of good to get it all out of your chest."

"It all began shortly before you came here for the diamond mission," began Sarah. She told Carina everything; about the Intersect, her adventures with Chuck and Casey and her relationship with Chuck. "And then he accepted General Beckman's offer to go to Prague and train to be a real spy."

"Whoa… Sounds like some sci-fi movie. But I believe you. What happened next? Did you offer to accompany him to Prague and help with his training and he turned you down?"

"No. I… I panicked. I didn't want my Chuck to become one of us. I didn't want to see him turn into a cold hearted spy. It would destroy him – and me."

"And?" Carina encouraged.

"I told him that we should run. I told him I would plan for going off the grid and asked him to meet me at a train station in Prague."

"And he didn't come?"

"He came, but he told me that he'd thought about it and he actually wanted to become a spy. He wouldn't leave with me. He went back to training instead. Which he failed, by the way."

"You are telling me that despite having a fucking computer in his head, one that can give him a lot of skills, he still flunked spy school?"

"Yes. Casey used to call him 'The Lemon' for a while."

"And then what?"

"I was still based here, going on missions. But I was soon going to move back to DC. Casey and I were closing up shop here. Then Chuck had the bright idea to crash a mission and prove that he could still be a spy. He almost blew my cover, so I had to have him kiss me and then I slapped his lights out for the benefit of my mark, to whom I told he was just my obnoxious ex."

"Sounds highly satisfying. The slapping part, I mean."

"It was, at the moment. But then he saved my life. He sneaked back into the club where a courier exchange was going down disguised as a mariachi guitarista. We thought that he had blown the op and Casey wanted to kill him for it, but when we reviewed the video surveillance we confirmed that there was indeed an assassin in the premises. Chuck saw the laser sight aimed at me as I was dancing with the mark and knocked me down to save me."

"Looks like Chucky has it in him to be a spy."

"Yeah… Apparently our breakup was rough on him too. Casey told me that Chuck had been in a funk, doing nothing but sitting on the couch watching TV and eating cheese balls and pressured me into talking to him, so that we could both get closure. I met him at the Buy More, but the assassin, who was a member of the Ring, and his men, captured us and took us to Mexico. Chuck managed to use his Intersect skills and we escaped. Casey finally came in a helicopter, shot the place up with a Minigun and rescued us. Beckman was so impressed that she put the team back together. I wasn't too happy with this development, as you can see."

"OK, I've heard enough. Kid, you are an idiot."

"For moping over Chuck?"

"No. From what you told me, Chuck wants stability. What life would the two of you have, constantly on the run, if he'd followed you in Prague? I don't think being away from his family and friends would be good for him. What got into you anyway? How did you get so impulsive?"

"I didn't think of that…"

"You were both selfish and look where it got you. You should have asked that bitch Beckman for a nice extended vacation instead. Then you could have screwed Chuck senseless, or rather you would have kept screwing each other senseless, and you would both be happy."

"It's all about sex to you."

"Not always, but you've told me enough to realize that Chuckles is one hell of a lay."

"That he is," admitted Sarah.

"Then, since you two have broken up, I hope you won't mind if I take him for a test drive."

"Keep your dirty hands off him, OK?"

"My, my… you never stopped loving the dork."

"Nerd; he prefers nerd. And I didn't say…"

"Shut up, Sarah. I know you. You got it bad for him. Anyway, now that your big sis is here, she'll cheer you up. Go clean up and in the meantime I'll pick out a nice dress for you. We are going out for some fun and I'm not taking no for an answer."

"Okay," Sarah said hesitantly and shuffled to the bathroom.

"Fixing you will take some work, but I can do it," Carina whispered, so that her sister wouldn't hear her.

When she made sure that her little sister was not merely presentable but drop dead gorgeous, Carina took her to a nightclub.

"Feels like I haven't been off duty in years, when in fact it's only been a little more than six months," said Sarah. "How long are you in town for, anyway?"

"I plan on getting out quick. Los Angeles has all the cultural panache of a porta potty," replied Carina.

"I've missed you," said Sarah. The two sisters shared a laugh, clinked glasses and savored their drinks.

'So, I was going to ask you why you are still here, but you already told me you're in for the long haul."

"I don't really want to talk about work."

"Touchy subject… Especially since you were sleeping with him."

"We have a very professional relationship now."

"Oh." Carina gave Sarah a funny look.

"What?"

"Nothing… As I said before, you're just really into him, that's all."

"Can we please not talk about Chuck?"

"Walker, Walker, Walker…"

"What?"

"You broke the cardinal rule of spies… And now you're paying the price." Hearing Carina's statement, Sarah drained her glass and ordered another drink. She might as well let the alcohol work its magic. Carina would be driving anyway (not Sarah's Porsche, of course. It was a toy she wouldn't share even with her own sister).

By coincidence, Morgan had taken Chuck to the same club in order to cheer him up. He claimed it was to help his best buddy forget about Sarah, but when he spotted the blonde bombshell inside the club he couldn't help but point her out to Chuck.

"It's Sarah!"

"What? What… what do you mean 'Sarah'? _My_ Sarah?"

"Technically she's single, if you think about it, you know, so…" Morgan's voice trailed off when he noticed the look Chuck was giving him. "Yes, your Sarah," he confirmed. "And she's with Carina!"

Chuck ignored Morgan's ramblings about Carina and kept looking at Sarah. She also saw him and her face took a deer in the headlights expression. He sent Morgan to get them drinks, while he was determined to find out what Carina was doing in LA.

"Hey, hi, hi Carina, long time" he said approaching the two women.

"What a nice surprise," Carina said with a smile, which was just to cover the murderous look she was giving her sister's ex.

"Sarah, good to see you tonight," he continued undaunted.

"Chuck. What are you doing here, you're spying on me?"

"Uh, no, I'm just here for an innocent evening with an old friend."

The awkward discussion was interrupted by the arrival of a man who swept Carina up in his arms and kissed her. Sarah noticed how her sister rotated a ring on her finger to reveal a diamond. Carina was engaged to be married? That was one for the books! Chuck flashed on Karl's (that was his name) scar and tried to warn Carina that he was a very bad man, an arms dealer.

"He's my mark. What? You think I'm an idiot? It's the cardinal rule. Spies don't fall in love. Welcome to your new mission," Carina said smugly. Sarah was mad. Carina had set her up – again.

To cut a long story short, Carina was posing as Karl Stromberg's fiancée in order to recover a weapon that he intended to sell to the Ring. They were planning to steal it during Carina's engagement party. There was a disagreement in front of Beckman when it was suggested that Casey pose as Carina's father. Admittedly, and despite the others' ribbing, Casey was too young to play that part, so they compromised. They would introduce him as an uncle.

The two sisters were in Sarah's hotel room, moving about in their (extremely sexy) underwear, strapping various weapons to their bodies, before slipping into very nice dresses and zipping each other up.

"Hmmm, here, this charm bracelet looks like what some sucker in love would wear," Carina said, picking up the charm bracelet Chuck had given Sarah from a box on the dresser.

"Uh, no, it's not really my thing," Sarah said, putting on her earrings.

"Do you want to talk more about what happened with him?" Carina asked and when Sarah did not reply she continued. "When we wrap this mission, maybe you should come with me on my next assignment. I know it's not Burbank, but we can make the best of St. Tropez, right?"

"Do you ever wonder about a different life?"

"You mean like if all this was real? If we were really getting ready for my engagement party?"

"Yeah."

"Nah," Carina said dismissively and cocked her Walther PPK before sliding it in a thigh holster under her dress.

Chuck and Sarah went to Carina's engagement party together. While Casey was pretending to be 'Uncle Johnny' and was talking to Karl, Carina noticed the tension between Chuck and Sarah, so she took him aside for a pep talk.

"What the hell are you doing to my mission?" Carina hissed. "You and Sarah are supposed to be a happy couple."

"Ever since I got back from Prague, Sarah's been so cold," Chuck said.

"You idiot! The reason Sarah's cold is because she _loves_ you. Now get your head out of your ass and go be a spy!"

Chuck and Sarah found the vault, he flashed on gymnastics and avoided the lasers. Sarah thought it was a lot like a scene with Vincent Cassel in Ocean's Twelve, a movie they'd watched together once. He got the briefcase containing the weapon, but as he was at the door, he inadvertently tripped the alarms. Chuck ended up trapped inside the vault, while gas was being pumped in. Thinking he was going to die, he confessed everything to Sarah, who did not hear him, however, because she was busy shutting off the gas and neutralizing a couple of Karl's goons. She managed to save him and took him back to Castle. He regained consciousness in time to hear Sarah ask General Beckman for a transfer, a request which was denied. Instead Sarah would have to train Chuck to become a real spy. Thus they ended up in the dojo, sparring with bo staffs.

"Lives are on the line," she said, tossing him a staff. "We need to get the 2.0 working right. If you want to be a real spy, you need to act like one." They started sparring, Chuck just trying to block her blows and not counterattacking.

"I _am_ a real spy," he countered.

"A real spy would have flashed on the bo," she said, knocking the staff from his hands. She gave him another from a rack. "Would have been able to defend himself." They resumed sparring. Chuck was still not flashing. "Come on, Chuck! The program is in the 2.0. You can do this!"

"It doesn't work, OK? It's not working, I… I'm too emotional, but if we could just talk, really quick…"

"You need to learn to ignore your emotions. Spies do not have feelings. Feelings get you killed. You need to learn to bury them in a place deep inside."

"Sarah, stop."

"Come on! Flash! Show me your attack skills." She kept prodding him along, hoping he'd flash. "Come on, Chuck, flash! Show me!"

"No," he said, tossing the staff to the side.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you." He turned to leave, but she swept his legs from under him, sending him sprawling on the mat.

"Don't worry, Chuck," she said bitterly. "You can't," she added. _Not more than you already have_, she thought.

Unfortunately Carina's cover had been blown, as there had been a camera in the vault and recorded Chuck's confession and Karl had seen it. Before his men found her, Carina gave the briefcase to Morgan, with instructions to give it to Chuck. He in turn invited her to their housewarming party. Ellie and Devon had moved to a neighboring apartment and Morgan was now Chuck's roommate. Stromberg and his goons took Carina to the party to recover the briefcase. Morgan got fed up with her, as she wouldn't give him the time of day and he told her to take a hike, after handing the briefcase back to her, much to the consternation of Chuck, Sarah and Casey, who were watching the scene on the surveillance monitors.

Casey cleared the courtyard of the partygoers by pretending to be an angry neighbor and they managed to take down Karl's men, but he still held Carina. Chuck managed to get him to let his guard down by playing on his emotions.

"You took a chance. You… you loved someone, maybe for the first time in your life, all you've ever done before is… is shut off your feelings. You… you bury them deep down inside. Because in your profession, in your line of work, it's a liability, right? It's - it - it can certainly be a liability. And I know, I know that you think you messed up your life because you opened up your heart. But maybe you helped open up her heart in the process. Maybe because you loved her, she's learned how to love too," he told Stromberg. It was a speech from his heart, and it was meant for Sarah as well. She did get the message, but leave it to Carina to ruin a moment.

"Yeah, right, stupid," she said after knocking out her 'fiancé'. "Spies don't fall in love."

Late the following morning Sarah was typing her report in Castle when Carina walked in.

"So, St. Tropez doesn't sound appealing to you?"

"Uh, incredibly, but I think I'm gonna stay here, at least for now."

"I thought you'd say that. Here, a little going away present." Carina handed her sister a flash drive. "You should take a look at it."

"Okay. So, I guess I'll see you around, huh?"

"Yeah." The two sisters hugged. As Carina left, Sarah plugged the flash drive into a USB port. It was the footage from the vault, after Chuck had managed to get himself locked inside.

"_Look Sarah, I know… I know that you're probably very hurt._ _You're probably hurt that I didn't run away with you in Prague. I did that and I'm sorry. You have to know that you were everything I ever wanted. But how could I do that? How could I run away with you? How could I be with you knowing what I turned my back on, you know? Knowing that what I had in my head could help a lot of people. And you're the one that taught me that - that being a spy is about choosing something bigger. It's about putting aside your own personal feelings for the greater good. And that's what I choose. I chose to be a spy for my friends, my family and you. I chose to be a spy because... Sarah, I love you._"

Seeing his confession tears started forming in her eyes again. She'd misunderstood Chuck. Carina had been right in saying she'd acted selfish. She now freely admitted, at least to herself and her sister, that she still loved Chuck. She got up, pocketed the flash drive and ran upstairs to find her sister before she left for the airport.

"Carina, wait!"

"You watched the video."

"I did. Thanks for giving it to me. It means a lot."

"You know Chuck blew my cover back then, but he saved me, so he more than made up for it. You two broke the cardinal rule. So what? You were happy together. Get together again so that you can be happy again. If you forgave him for Prague."

"I forgave him, in no small part thanks to you."

"Good. Can I offer some more advice?"

"Shoot."

"Play with him a bit. Don't give him the illusion of being pursued. Let him come after you. Make him think he has to win you over again. Hide your true feelings for a while and get him frustrated and then, when he's ripe for plucking, hit him with everything you've got. I guarantee you that it'll be amazing, and I'm not talking just about the sex."

"Sounds like good advice," Sarah agreed. "One more thing; where were you last night? You didn't come back to my room after the debriefing."

"Yeah, I spent the night at Chuck's."

"You didn't!" Sarah was horrified. Her own sister stabbed her in the back and slept with Chuck?

"Ha-ha, relax. I was with Martin. No, actually his name is Morgan."

"Morgan? As in Chuck's best friend Morgan? Short bearded guy Morgan?" Sarah was appalled.

"The same."

"It's true then. Your slutdom knows no bounds."

"Hey! I couldn't bear to have two black marks on my seduction record! Chuck alone is enough in this respect. Besides, it was some of the best sex I've ever had. There's more to the guy than meets the eye."

"You're telling me that you got the hots for Morgan after he rejected you?"

"No one ever said no to me before. It was kinda sexy."

"You're incorrigible."

"You and Chuck would better have it all worked out when I see you again around summertime. Otherwise he's mine."

"Dream on."

"Bye, baby sis, take care."

"You too."


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N:** Folks, this is the final installment for this fic. Instead of rewriting it, I decided to cover almost the entire third season in one chapter and the easiest way to do it was by having Chuck and Sarah finish telling Ellie and Devon about their escapades.

Thank you all for reading and for your reviews and comments.

* * *

**Chuck & Sarah vs the Whole Truth**

"So, what you're telling me is that, until just before Devon and I left for Africa, you were playing with my brother?" Ellie asked. Chuck and Sarah looked at each other.

"Um, not exactly, Ellie," Sarah said.

"Maybe we should tell them everything. Set the record straight," said Chuck, his hand soothingly rubbing Sarah's arm as they sat together facing Ellie and Devon. Sarah looked into his eyes and nodded.

"We are listening," said Ellie, encouraging them to continue. "But, before you start, I'd like a clarification on something you already mentioned: Devon too told me that the stripper at his bachelor party was a CIA agent. Did it all happen as you told me back then, Chuck?"

"Yes, sis, Alex, as we said, was here for a specific mission. Basically, her job at the party was over when she tranqed Devon and got his key card. Casey and I knew the truth, but the others, Morgan included, thought that he'd just passed out drunk. That was when the idea to pull a prank on Devon with the photos surfaced. Alex didn't want to do it. She might be an agent who will stop at nothing to get the job done, but Devon is just a civilian whose taxes pay her salary. One of the people her job is to protect. She's just like Sarah and Casey in that respect, a consummate professional, but a decent person as well. Casey didn't like it either, but he had to tell her to do it to maintain her cover."

"I see. Sarah, please continue."

"OK, here goes. I kept up the act for about a week. And then the whole Generalissimo business came along. Devon was called to the hospital to treat him, while Chuck and I were tasked with protecting him."

"The information Devon gave me suggested that there had been an attempt on Goya's life. The invitation to the consulate dinner was convenient for us, as we could easily get in and keep an eye on the Premier," added Chuck.

"And, Ellie, you were right when you said that I still had feelings for Chuck. Remember, after I took you away from the Premier for 'girl talk'? I was planning on dropping the charade and getting back together with Chuck after the mission. Our dance simply reinforced my decision."

"But then, instead of the real assassin, Devon tackled Casey, who was in disguise because he was a wanted man in Costa Gravas for helping the anti-communist rebels there. They called him El Angel De La Muerte – The Angel Of Death. Devon was feeling bad about screwing the op, so he offered to help us get Casey back. When Goya was poisoned again, we took the opportunity to get in as Devon's associates. Sarah was the nurse."

"You should have seen her babe," said Devon. "She took out two guards armed with automatic weapons with just her fists."

"She's my kickass ninja spy girl," said Chuck proudly and kissed her.

"I haven't yet returned the nurse's uniform to the Castle wardrobe, and you could use some more TLC after your fight with Shaw," Sarah whispered to Chuck and had the satisfaction of seeing him swallow hard before she continued. "Anyway, we found Casey, who'd beaten the real assassin in hand to hand combat, but had been shot in the leg by another guard. Chuck flashed on field surgery to remove the bullet."

"He's got the hands of a surgeon," added Devon. "You should have seen it babe, it was awesome."

"He did all that? He can't stand the sight of blood or needles!"

"He had to and he did. And then we were free, with the gratitude of the Premier as well. I was going to Chuck's to kiss and make up when I got a call that the Ring had mistaken Devon for Agent Carmichael – Chuck – and had taken him, intending to try and turn him."

"As Casey said, it was because Devon looks like a spy, while I look like… me. There was no indecent exposure charge against Casey, sis. I made that up to explain Awesome's absence. We managed to take down the Ring cell and keep Devon safe, but we met the bane of our existence."

"Otherwise known as Daniel Shaw," said Sarah. "The General put him in charge of our team for all Ring related missions. Which brings us to the next mission: Chuck on the plane to Paris. Shaw, idiotically I might add, had Chuck go over my and Casey's objections and he hadn't even fully briefed him. He might have wanted to test him, but he should have been smart enough to realize that you simply don't do that on important missions. Fortunately, Chuck made it back."

"I couldn't have done it without you and Casey. The advice you gave me over the phone and the other thing you did, which is classified, saved my life."

"Shaw's actions had me very worried. The plane thing was strike two; strike one had been when Casey had to pull a gun on him to get him to let us back Chuck up when we were trying to save Devon from the Ring. So I decided to put my plan for getting back together with Chuck on hold, at least until I could figure out what Shaw was up to."

"You should have told me, Sarah."

"I had to sell it, hence me not telling you anything. I know it hurt and I'm sorry, but I did it all for us. What I didn't count on was Chuck coming back from Paris with some extra baggage."

"Hannah," said Ellie.

"Hannah," Sarah confirmed. "Yet another brunette coming after Chuck. Lou and Jill were not much of a problem, but Chuck and I were still apart when Hannah came into the picture."

"The mission in Dubai was next," Chuck said, trying to steer the conversation away from the subject of Hannah. "I had to cultivate an asset. It's as difficult as it sounds. On top of it I had to watch Sarah in her underwear pretend she'd slept with him."

"Pretend?" Ellie asked.

"Twilight tranqs," Sarah said. "They make you forget what happened in the last five minutes."

"Back on topic," said Chuck. "Manoosh, that was his name, had reverse-engineered Intersect glasses for the Ring, but figured he'd make more on the open market. We had to follow him to Weap-Con in Dubai. Casey loved it, of course. In the end I had to burn him. It was hard, but I kept reminding me that he was not just a nerd like me, but he was designing weapons for profit. He's in government custody now."

"Chuck took it really hard. I saw him on the surveillance feeds. He was drinking Johnnie Walker Black, as per Casey's advice. Casey also said that Chuck was becoming a spy and it was a good thing. I was not so sure. I didn't want to lose the Chuck I fell in love with. I wanted to go to him and comfort him, but… I didn't know what to say or do to make it better."

"The tickets to Paris?" Chuck interjected. "I know I told you at the Buy More about the supposed install in Paris, but I also got the idea to give you a trip as a gift, hence the tickets. The CIA happily obliged. They must get a kick out of fulfilling my strange requests, ha-ha. First the rose petals and pecan pie, I acted on Devon's script, by the way, and then the tickets. They are still good. You can use both them and a CIA apartment. The French Secret Service will also be glad to help, I fancy. All it would take would be a call from Sugar Bear to one of their agents."

"El, I know how I acted when Chuck gave you the tickets. I was still freaked out by the spy business and I hadn't yet reclaimed my awesomeness. Sorry about that."

"No problem, honey, especially since we can still go to Paris. Now, tell me about the next mission, Sarah."

"The next mission was to recover a chemical weapon shipped to the US inside the display base of the Mask of Alexander."

"Shaw screwed up royally on this mission," said Chuck.

"He did. First of all, he got trapped in the vault and we had to bring Chuck in to get him out. It would have been simple, except for one detail: a certain new Nerd Herder. Hannah. She insisted on following Chuck on his service call. She unwittingly caused a few problems, but none too serious."

"We did, however, have to reschedule the operation for later, just before the exhibit was to open. And Sarah had to pose as Shaw's fiancée, wearing yet another red dress."

"That's it! I'm burning every red garment I own!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Please don't. I like you in red. We managed to get the mask, but the Ring lured Hannah to the museum and trapped her inside the vault. They told me to get them the mask back to them if I ever wanted to see her alive again."

"And then Shaw screwed the pooch again," continued Sarah. "He got the canister out, but also released the gas – cyclosarin, which is a lethal gas. He and I were exposed to it. Chuck flashed and told us there was an antidote. He went to the museum with Casey and he tricked the Ring agent into revealing the location of the counter agent, gave it to me and Shaw and also rescued Hannah."

"Shaw made yet another mistake, his third big one on this mission. Sarah, being much lighter than him, was affected by the gas quicker. So he carried her to the museum. But he took her inside instead of waiting in the van for me to get the antidote to them. He was made by the Ring."

"And then Morgan and I caught you and Hannah making out in the home theater room of the Buy More. I was not happy that you had broken up with Sarah, but I was glad you were moving forward with your life and not revisiting the Jill years. It was a lesser of two evils kind of thing. I definitely preferred Sarah over Hannah; I love her like a sister, ever since you two hooked up."

"Thank you Ellie. Although I think you'll hate me when you hear the whole story."

"I didn't take a frying pan to you when I learned that you are a spy. What makes you think I'll hate you now that you and my baby brother are back together?"

"Thanks Ellie. The next assignment was a tricky one. Chuck had to pose as a notorious hitman."

"It was no big deal really, as I-"

"Chuck, if I hear the 'Fiddler on the Roof' line again, I _will_ hurt you."

"Shutting up now."

"Good. Where was I? Oh, yes. Chuck did a good job selling it, he even impressed Casey. But one of the mobsters Chuck had to meet with to get the details of his contract used to be a Marine. He recognized Casey, even called him by his real name."

"I'll take it from here, Sarah. You see, Ellie, they thought he was a cop. I couldn't kill him, so I had to buy time for Sarah and Shaw to bring backup. I did it by 'torturing' Casey. I ended up yanking out one of Casey's teeth. Fortunately, it was the one with a cavity, thus I saved him a trip to the dentist and he even thanked me for it."

"I didn't see it that way. I was watching my Chuck disappear and a cold hearted agent gradually take his place. All this made me want to remember who I used to be before my CIA days. I told Shaw that much, and in a moment of weakness even told him my original name."

"What she didn't know at the time is that I was watching and listening. Shaw was the mark I, or rather Rafe the hitman, had been hired to kill. It hurt me immensely to witness that scene."

"Sarah, you said you told Shaw your original name. Don't you mean your real name?"

"Ellie, the way I feel it, my real name is Sarah Walker, which has also been my legal name ever since after high school. The name you got to know me by, the name I had when I found true love. The name on my birth certificate is-"

"Sarah, you don't have to tell us. It's very personal and I understand if you don't want to. You'll always be Sarah to us, anyway."

"I want to tell you, Ellie. It's Sam. The name on my birth certificate is Samantha Lisa. But I am Sarah Lisa now and I like it that way," Sarah said and hugged Ellie.

"Ellie, Sarah and Shaw also made the chicken pepperoni you liked so much. Only Devon knew I hadn't cooked it, because I told him."

"Uh, Chuck, only I cooked. I had Shaw just do the necessary shopping. He can't cook to save his life. The only thing he knows is nuking frozen TV dinners in the microwave. The Crock Pot I got for him still sits in Castle, unused."

"Looks like I turned you into a proper cook. Do me a favor and don't let my brother cook ever again. You and Morgan can do wonders in the kitchen."

"Ha-ha, you got it, Ellie. Back to the story: the real Rafe escaped and found us; me, Chuck and Shaw. He was going to kill me, but Casey took him out with one shot from over half a mile away. Also, opening up to Shaw and dating him was another part of my plan to find out what exactly he had in store for us and to control him to an extent. I realized that he wanted to use Chuck not as a spy, but as a weapon against the Ring, as he believed they'd killed his wife. The following mission made me want to get him as far away from Chuck as possible."

"In the meantime I had broken up with Hannah because I didn't want to drag her down into a web of lies. But the emotional hell I was going through affected my ability to flash, so I was benched."

"And that occurred at the worst possible moment, because the Ring, now aware that Shaw was alive, concocted an elaborate hoax to get him away from his base. Ring agents, under the pretense of evaluating the store for sale, searched the Buy More and found our base. Devon was the bait to lure me, Casey and Shaw away."

"Morgan stumbled in on my secret back then. I told him everything, as I thought we were going to die. He made me realize that I still loved Sarah, no matter how hard I was trying to deny it, even to myself. And the Intersect 2.0 came back online when I got my emotions in check."

"I watched the interior surveillance afterwards. Chuck kicked ass and took names down there. Even Morgan knocked one of the Ring Agents out."

"I'm impressed," Ellie said.

"What Sarah forgot to mention is that Shaw was going to activate the Castle self destruct protocols, while Morgan and I were still inside. Sarah begged him to give me some more time. Good thing she did, too."

"After that I knew that I didn't want Shaw anywhere near Chuck. Beckman had ordered us to DC, so that would have been covered. I would be away from Chuck, but I believed it was a small price to pay for keeping him safe."

Before they could continue with the story, there was a knock on the door. The pizza had arrived. Chuck took the delivery and paid, while Sarah went to the kitchen to get them all some beer from the refrigerator. When they had all settled back down and devoured a slice each, Sarah picked up from where they had left off.

"The next mission was one full of dangerous complications. At first it was simple enough. We had to evaluate the security in a CIA installation. We did it quite easily."

"And then the trouble began. You see, Casey had been contacted by the same man who had originally recruited him for the NSA, who also happened to work for the Ring after being dismissed. He blackmailed Casey into stealing something for him."

"Chuck saw him and mistakenly assumed it was another spy test for him, so he jokingly ratted Casey out to Beckman. She had me arrest him."

"You see, Ellie, before he became John Casey, he was Alex Coburn. He had a fiancée and she believed he was dead. But Keller knew about her and told Casey that he'd kill her if he didn't steal something for the Ring."

"It was an experimental pill, used to suppress emotions. He should have told us from the beginning. This way we could turn it into a legitimate mission. He made the same mistake Chuck and I did when we ran off to rescue your dad. He forgot that it all works out better when we handle matters as a team."

"He wanted to protect us, give us some plausible deniability."

"True, but we could have gotten Beckman's support had he come clean."

"You're right as usual, honey."

"I know. In the end, Casey and I took Keller and his men out, and Chuck saved Kathleen. He had to take the pill tough."

"For a while I was the Terminator; the perfect spy and a ruthless killing machine."

"He almost killed a Ring operative with his bare hands. Scared the living daylights out of me. Seeing him cold and emotionless like this only increased my fear that the old Chuck was slipping away."

"One look at you was enough to bring that old Chuck back, Sarah. The power of love."

"One crisis averted. That day Casey also learned that he had a daughter."

"It's kinda strange, you know," said Ellie. "One would have never guessed that sweet little Alex is actually John's daughter."

"Yeah… Casey didn't know that Kathleen was pregnant when he faked his death to become a spy, sis. After the mission he was dismissed from the NSA."

"And then came Chuck's final spy test."

"It was fun, at first. All I had to do was tail a guy and obtain a picture of his contact, a mole inside the CIA. I even threw a stakeout dinner, with the appropriate music, for Sarah, in an effort to win her back."

"It was as romantic as it sounds," agreed Sarah. "And it was working, until he had to leave to tail his first mark."

"I'll leave out the part where I was clinging naked to the wall of a five-star hotel."

"You were a naked spy, Chuck."

"You heard that?"

"Hard not to, you had your mike on. I also got a good view of your backside on the surveillance. I still have the disc." Sarah winked seductively. There was laughter all around.

"I was so happy to have passed that I gave Casey his old gun as a present."

"What we didn't know was that Shaw had another test for Chuck: his Red Test."

"What is that? Sounds ominous," Devon said.

"It is… It's the ultimate test for a fledgling spy. To kill a mark outright. Shaw ordered me to tell Chuck to kill the mole. Which would have been superfluous, as his Carmichael file already had two kills up to the time. I'm referring to Bernie Ominsky and Bill Bergey we've already told you about. Casey and I reported them as legitimate kills, to make Chuck look more authentic on paper."

"I was faced with a huge dilemma. I didn't want to kill anyone, but if I didn't then I wouldn't be a spy. In the end I decided to arrest him and let the CIA take it from there."

"Chuck chased him through the Union Station marshaling area. I was following them and the next thing I know, the mole was dead and Chuck was standing over him, gun in hand."

"You killed him, bro?"

"Uh, no, Captain. What I'll tell you now must be kept secret. Nobody else must know, okay?" Devon and Ellie both nodded. "Good. When I told Casey that I passed the spy test, he knew that I hadn't yet been given my Red Test. He followed me and killed the mole with the gift gun I'd given him."

"I didn't know that at the time… I thought that it was the end of the Chuck I'd fallen for. I blamed myself for it. I said I didn't love you anymore. It wasn't true… I hated myself for my part in ruining a great man, as I believed. Also, the memories the worst day of my life, my own Red Test, came flooding back. After all those years I still remember every detail… It had been a traumatic experience for me." Sarah had tears in her eyes as she said that. Chuck just hugged her. Ellie rose from her seat and soothingly stroked Sarah's back.

"Sarah, it's OK," she said.

"As Beckman believed I had passed the test, she called me to DC for my formal induction and to give me my next assignment. It would be in Rome, no less. I'd even get to choose my own team. And I wanted Sarah in it."

"But I couldn't bear to face Chuck, not after what I believed I'd done to him. So, I declined, saying I was going to DC with Shaw."

"I knew I had to resort to drastic measures to win her back, without betraying Casey's trust by telling her what had really happened at the train tracks. So, with help from Devon here, Casey and Morgan, I crashed Sarah and Shaw's dinner date. He always took you to fancy establishments, baby."

"I know. I was getting a kick out of being wined, dined and given expensive presents like those earrings from Tiffany's, while knowing he'd never get me between the sheets. But I really was surprised to see you at the restaurant."

"Then I tackled Shaw through the restaurant window, babe," said Devon. "After that you had to bail me out of jail."

"You did all that for my little brother? I suppose I should thank you."

"You should thank them all, sis. Anyway, I took your advice and went all out, pulled out all stops to get my love back."

"First he saved Shaw. He was driven by vengeance, as we told you, so he volunteered to go on a suicide mission to allow us to target a major Ring facility for an airstrike. Chuck locked me in the Castle and took off to save him."

"The Ring had found his tracker and removed it. Fortunately, Jeff and Lester had been following Shaw to prove to me that they are good stalkers – it's as creepy as it sounds. They told me the location of the Ring facility. I went in, got Shaw out and planted the tracker."

"Casey got me out of the Castle and I drove there in time to see the airstrike. And then I saw Chuck carry Shaw to safety. He told me he'd done all this because he knew how much I cared about Shaw. I never cared about him. I always loved Chuck."

"As I already said, I went all out to win Sarah back. I told her I loved her, kissed her and asked her to run away with me. I told her I'd be waiting for her at Union Station."

"I was packing to join him. My Chuck was not completely gone and I couldn't stay away from him. Casey came to my hotel room and told me the truth about Chuck's Red Test. I was elated. My Chuck had never changed, he was always there. As I was leaving to meet Chuck at the train station, Shaw came and told me that we had a new mission."

"There was a reason the Ring wanted Shaw alive. They wanted to show him something. They did and managed to turn him."

"How did they do that, bro?"

"They showed him footage of my Red Test. His wife had been my target," said Sarah.

"You killed his wife?"

"Until recently, I didn't know who it was. They'd just given me a photo, a time and a place and told me to kill her. We may never know if she'd really been turned by the Ring or if she'd just been set up."

"Shaw wanted revenge. He wanted to destroy the CIA and kill Sarah. But first he wanted her to know what she'd done. He took her to a Ring warehouse, where footage of her Red Test was playing. I got there with a tactical team, after Casey told me how to get help, only to find Shaw apparently forgive her. Beckman benched me from Rome for ordering an expensive rescue operation without proper authorization. She also ordered Sarah and Shaw to DC."

"I appreciated the tank though." Sarah kissed him again.

"I was devastated. I got drunk, played Guitar Hero and tied Morgan up with game controller cords when he tried to take my whiskey away. Then Sarah came and admitted that she still loved me. Afterwards, we went on a mission with Shaw to get the Ring Director and the Cipher for the Ring Intersect."

"It looked like Shaw had saved us and killed the Ring Director," added Sarah. Ellie and Devon just listened in rapt fascination, as they did most of the time during Chuck and Sarah's confession. "He and I were ordered to Paris, to find where the Ring had the components for their Intersect manufactured. We didn't know he was setting me up to kill me. Chuck and Casey followed me to Paris and saved me."

"You should thank Morgan too."

"Morgan?"

"Yes, he was the first to realize that Shaw had been turned. He noticed that his fight with the Ring agents had been faked. He also talked Casey out of his funk and into helping me, after Beckman wouldn't listen to me."

"Chuck found me and shot Shaw to save me. We thought he'd killed him. After that we got back together. You and Devon were going to Africa, so we decided to quit the spy life and run. I'll have to thank Morgan for helping save me too."

"You can help me protect him from Casey, now that he's seeing Alex."

"I can do that. Back to the story: we took a train to Zurich. We thought that this what each other wanted, to just be together. We didn't leave our compartment for a couple of days."

"I think I know why. It must have been awesome," Devon said.

"Yes, we were making up for the lost time and yes, it was really awesome, Devon. Unfortunately, when we decided to actually get out of said compartment and have breakfast in the dining car, the spy world caught up with us. I flashed on a Basque terrorist and Sarah saw that one of the men with him was armed."

"We investigated, separately at first. Then we agreed to do a final mission, under the radar. We would turn the terrorist over to Interpol."

"Thus we became Mr. and Mrs. Charles from Texas. Mrs. Charles was amazing."

"So was Mr. Charles," Sarah said in a Texas drawl. They kissed again.

"What we didn't know was that he had already turned himself in and his men were in fact his Interpol escort. In the meantime, Casey and Morgan found us and came to get us to come back. We'd already drugged the two Interpol agents and caught the former terrorist, so we just waited for another team to pick him up. Casey and Morgan let us go and they were waiting for the new Interpol team, which turned out to be Arnauldo's former terrorist buddies posing as agents. We took them down eventually and were about to run again when he made us realize that we wanted to be spies together. We even got Beckman to approve of our relationship."

"She even said that it was about time." Sarah's smile couldn't be wider.

"And then you guys left for the Congo."

"And we got our next assignment. We had to recover some software and we were teamed up with another spy couple, who'd been married for thirty years, or rather kept divorcing and remarrying for thirty years."

"After the mission they decided to retire and recommended us as to take their place. I also convinced Sarah to move in with me." *lingering kiss*

"We had to remodel your apartment too, as Morgan had trapped the bad guy's female Bengal tiger inside and she turned it into an oversized kitty litter box. Another fun project for the CIA cleaners." They all laughed heartily.

"Then it all went south… The Intersect went on overdrive. I was even committed to a CIA psychiatric facility. We did manage to get another mission completed though and Sarah saved me again. Justin, however, was still manipulating Ellie, in order to find Dad. My condition was worsening, but Dad found out about the 2.0 and built me a device to counteract the overloading. I've already told you all about that and what happened with Shaw before he killed Dad, as well as everything after that. We should have told you about me being a spy from the start. That way you'd know to come to me when Justin first approached you."

"In retrospect, keeping you in the dark was very short-sighted," agreed Sarah.

Ellie and Devon contemplated what they'd just heard. Then Ellie rose from the couch.

"Sarah Lisa Walker," she said. "You told me I might hate you and I told you I wouldn't. I don't and never will hate you. You kept Chuck alive for a long time and thanks to you he's finally living to his true potential. He did a lot of good before quitting the CIA and I'm proud of him. I'm proud to call you a friend, too. In fact, you are more than a friend; you are a sister to me."

"Thanks, Ellie, it means a lot to me." The women hugged again.

"So, everything is as it should be," said a new feminine voice from the courtyard.

"Carina?" Sarah asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Didn't I tell you that I'd come to visit again?"

"This is your sister, right Sarah?" Devon asked.

"Yes."

"Well, don't just stand there, come in," Chuck said and went to open the door. Carina entered and was formally introduced to Ellie and Devon.

"So, Chuckles and my baby sister are finally back together. And I seem to recall I heard you say that Morgan hooked up with Johnny's daughter… I didn't know he had one."

"How long have you been out there?" Chuck asked.

"Long enough to hear everything."

"There isn't a mission you want our help for, is there?" Sarah asked suspiciously.

"No, not this time, sis. I'm on vacation."

"In that case, can I get you some pizza?"

"I'd love that, thanks. I'm starving."

After pizza and some small talk, it was time for a movie. Afterwards, Ellie and Devon retired to their apartment, Carina returned to her hotel room and Chuck and Sarah went to their room.

"What are you going to do now, Mr. Regular Guy?"

"I think we need a vacation. Then I'll start looking for a normal job."

"I love you, Chuck Bartowski."

"I love you, Sarah Walker."

**THE END**


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